Avengers: Age of Ultron - My Review

So here is my review of Avengers: Age of Ultron (and yes their will be spoilers).  First let me say I LOVED IT... Was it better then the first Avengers movie. I honestly can't answer that until I see it again and again.. so much happened that I feel I missed parts.

This movie starts off with a bang, we find ourselves in the middle of a fight, no explination as to how the Avengers got back together, we are to assumed they were summoned and showed up. Lots of great banter in the beginning. Loved the on going joke about Captain America and language. They are a well oiled machine, everyone knowing their part. We then are introduced to "The Twins" and we find out that not everyone loves The Avengers.

I'd have to say my only complaint was some of the CG in this opening battle looked pretty bad. There were only a few shots but they were pretty jarring. I did enjoy Cap flipping his motorcycle over his head and tossing it at the on coming bad guys. And of course the "beauty shot" that's been shown in all the trailers, where all the Avengers are moving in slow motion getting ready for battle. I think that it would have had more of an impact if I hadn't see it so many times. I do wish they would have left that out of the trailers.

I liked that the "main characters" (who have their own movie series ie, Thor, Cap and Ironman) took more of a backseat and let some of the smaller characters shine, especially Hawkeye. We also had three new characters to introduce. Of course the Twins Wanda and Pietro aka Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. We get a quick explanation as to why they hate the Avengers, especially Tony Stark. But I like that we see them starting to question what they are doing and finally switch sides and fight along side the Avengers. And something that I've been waiting to see... Paul Bethany (who voices JARVIS) becoming Vision. Though he was only in the last third of the movie I can see this character becoming a fan favorite.

I loved all the cameos we got from other Marvel movies including War Machine, Falcon, Peggy Carter, Heimdall & Erik Selvig. We even got a bit of Nick Fury and Maria Hill in this movie.

Other then the opening sequence I thought the SFX were amazing, so many action packed scenes, but they knew when to slow down and give us some amazing character moments. And speaking of character moments, the reveal that Hawkeye had a family with a wife and kids was brilliant. Of course Natasha already knew this but to everyone else, including the audience it was a shocker.

The way they were setting Hawkeye up with a family I was sure he was going to try and rescue that young boy that he would end up sacrificing himself to save the kid but in typical Whedon fashion there was a twist and Quicksilver sacrificed himself to save both Hawkeye and the kid. That was a shocker. And then I kept thinking.. oh he's not dead, he heals quickly or they would somehow save him.. but nope he died.

I liked how they introduced the "New" Avenger's team and the set up for Infinity Wars. I enjoyed Ultron as the "bad" guy. I love the fact that he was created by two of the Avengers (though for a good purpose) and to be totally honest he really isn't a bad guy, he is trying to solve a problem (the human race) and went to the extreme. I mean there are times when I feel the same way about he human race.

There really wasn't much I didn't like about this movie.. other then the few bad CG shots at the beginning. This was just one huge and fun roller coaster ride. One I hope to ride again very soon. I give Avengers: Age of Ultron a solid A

Preparing To See Avengers: Age of Ultron

So I opted for no NerdStrong Gym today, instead I went and saw Avengers: Age of Ultron with friends. Joining me for this outing was Chris, Dallas, Jes, and Aaron.

Before we headed out to the theater Chris and I had a bit a fun. He purchased a bunch of the Avengers masks and accessories for us to wear at the screening. So of course he and I had to try them all on and take pictures.

When we got to the theater Chris opted to leave the masks and things in my car and figured we'd take pictures once the movie was over. We saw the movie at my favorite theater Arclight Sherman Oaks. We were seeing it in 2D with ATMOS audio. One of many things I love about this theater is they ususal have props from the "big" movies. At this theater they had Ironman's Hulk Buster Fist as well as Black Widow and Hawkeye's costume.

They also have this massive wall of posters and it was also Avenger'd themed.

I don't think I need to explain who or what Avengers: Age of Ultron is.. if I do then you are probably confused by most of the things I post here. Needless to say that it's a HUGE movie and I've been super excited to see it for a while now.

Once the movie was over I was smiling from ear to ear.. I LOVED IT.. I'll post a more detailed and spoiler post after this one if you wish to hear my thoughts on the movie.

Afterwards the five of use headed to Buffalo Wild Wings and had a very tasty lunch before heading back to my car and attempting to take some pictures in the masks and accessories that Chris had purchased. Lighting in the parking structure made it very difficult as well as cars and people driving by. We did take a few shot but all of them are super dark and really unusable.

Said our goodbyes to Jes and Dallas and then I drove back to his car so he could head south to visit his girlfriend Hayley while Aaron was crashing at my place for D&D tomorrow. Aaron and I hung out at my place the rest of the day watching TV and playing some fun card games.

New MASH Podcast & Dinner with Friends

Today Geekyfanboy Productions released a new episode of the MASH 4077 Podcast. This is episode 103, covering S5 Ep 6 "The Nurses". You can Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or listen and get direct download from our main website MASH4077Podcast.com  Don't forget new episodes are released on the 1st and 15th of the month.

During the evening I headed over to my buddy Robert's place as my best bud Chris arrived from up north earlier today and was making some of his "famous" steaks for dinner. Joining us for this last minute get together was Dallas, Robert, Cait, Chris and myself.

After dinner with played a few games... we started with Ticket to Ride, which is one of my favorites and then moved on to Cockroach Poker, which was a new card game that I had just gotten. That was interesting as Cait was drunk which made it fun trying to explain how to play. Overall it was a fun night of food, friends and fun.

Afterwards Chris came back to my place to crash as we are seeing Avengers tomorrow.. Can't wait to see it!!

NerdStrong Open Gym - Battleropes & Back Squats

Today was open gym at NerdStrong. Coach Blair (who usually runs open gym) was out of town and when I got to the gym no one was there. There were about seven or so of us and we waited until 7am but still no coaches showed up. I had gotten coach Andrews phone number a few days prior for something else so I texted him asking if he or another coach were on their way. He informed me that it was suppose to be coach David (he did arrived about 15 minutes after) but coach Andrew was only five minutes away. As we waited for his arrival we took it upon ourselves to do our own warm up so we jogged around the parking lot and got some stretching in before Andrew pulled up on opened the gym. We did a bit more stretching inside before everyone split off into their individual workouts.

I started my workout with Battleropes. I worked with the ropes for 10 minutes, :30 seconds of work, :30 seconds of rest. I don't know why I love Battleropes, but I seem to be the only one who does at NerdStrong. I feel as though Battleropes give me the best upper body workout.

I then joined fellow NerdStronger Josh as he was doing Back Squats. I did 3 sets of 3 at about 180lbs before trying to break my 1 rep max, which is 200lbs. I started with 205lbs and did it with ease, I then upped it to 210lbs, 215lbs, and finally 225lbs. I think I could have gone a bit heavier but after doing all those back squats I felt I needed to stop there as I didn't want to push myself to far. But I am happy that I set a new 1 rep max of 225lbs for my Back Squat.

While Josh and I were doing back squats coach Andrew was pushing a weighted "sled" around outside so I asked him if I could give it a go. It's alot harder then it looks but once you hit the sweet spot that thing just slides across the asphalt with ease.

Overall it was a nice workout, not to crazy.. but I definitely worked out my upper body on this one.

Star Wars Rebels & Dinner with Jes

Today they announced the premiere date for season two of Star Wars Rebels. It's set to premiere on Disney XD June 20th.  Though I don't have Disney XD I'm still super excited for the premiere as I have other means of obtaining episodes. They also released this awesome poster for season 2 with Darth Vader and my favorite Ahsoka Tano. I know they said both of these characters aren't main characters and will only be in a few episodes this season but it's still super exciting to see them on the poster.

And if you're not watching Star Wars Rebels you are really missing out. In fact until May 4th you can watch all of season 1, which is only 13 episodes. Just follow the link..

http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/star-wars-rebels

And no you don't need to have watched The Clone Wars before hand.. but with that said.. The Clone Wars is pretty fantastic and a definite watch.. thought that series will take you a bit longer to watch as there are 121 episodes over six seasons.

During the evening I had a dinner date with one of my favorite ladies that I don't get to see as often as I'd like... Jes.  We met up at Pitfire around 8, ordered food. Jes got her kale salad fairly quick while I waited for my pizza, about 20 minutes in I told Jes that this was taking a bit to long. The place was busy but they are usually good at getting food out to the tables quickly. Another five minutes pass before I flag down my waitress and ask about my pizza. She goes away for about five minutes and then returns asking if I knew who took my order (this didn't bode well). I handed her my receipt and she left again. Now waiting a total of about 35 minutes she returns and says that they just put my order in and it will be out asap. She also apologized and handed me back the money that I had paid for the pizza.

About ten minutes later my pizza arrived, Jes of course was completely done with her salad by now so she watched me devour my pizza quickly as I was already hungry before they lost my order. About ten minutes later the waitress came by and placed two packages on our table, smiled and walked away. Come to find out she gave us two gigantic chocolate chip cookies to enjoy.

Even though they lost my order and it took more then a half hour to get my food, I can't complain. I got a delicious pizza for free and both Jes and I got some very tasty cookies for free as well. And all that waiting didn't matter because I was able to chat with Jes and catch up on each others lives... So win win all around!!

Proof Is In The Pictures

So I was looking through pictures on Facebook and I came across a picture of me from back in October of last year. I thought to myself.. I look a bit heavier in this picture and this is when I was at my heaviest of 219 lbs. So I figured I'd do a before and after picture to kind of see if there was any difference. When I put the pictures next to each other I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm currently down to 189 lbs so I've lost 30 pounds over the past six months and I have seen the difference in my body shape as I've gone down a shirt size and several pant sizes but I've never noticed it on my face... well that was until I saw these two picture next to each other.

Before, I was 219 lbs... After, I am 189 lbs... that 's a lose of 30lbs in 6 months

OMG!!! Have I lost weight, what is crazy is that I didn't notice it at all, and though I still think my face looks fat, I can see an significant weight lose. I guess because I see my face everyday you don't notice the weight lose.. unlike my shirt and pants size you can't really tell if your losing weight in your face but when comparing pictures.. there is no doubt.

I still have another 25lbs that I'd like to lose and I'm sure I'll lose a bit more in my face but it's nice to know that my six months of hard work (working out everyday and eat healthier) has paid off. Just think of what I can do in my next six month!!

NerdStrong Gym - Balance and Kettlebells

I like having a strength day after a "CON" day as they usually aren't that taxing of a cardio workout and are more about form and technique.

We started with a good warm up. We had to do 20x Jumping Jacks, 10x PVC Pass Thrus, 5x Inch Worms and 10x Wall Squats. We did two sets of these.

We then moved on to the first skill move. Continuing the theme of Balance this week Coach Andrew had us to 3 to 5 rounds of :15 to :30 seconds Hold of Kettlebell Tightrope and then 5 - 10x of Upside Down Kettlebell Press. 

This tightrope stuff is alot harder then it sounds, especially when your holding a weight in one hand. For the Kettlebell Hold you had to turn the kettlebell up and then hold it above your shoulder. As you do this you are trying to hold your balance while standing on a line. It's interesting because depending on which foot I had in front of me and which hand was holding the kettlebell I found one side easier to balance then the other. And then for the kettlebell press you had to keep your balance and push the kettlebell up until your bicep passed your ear. These were tough.. it was one thing to hold your balance while just holding the kettlebell but it's something completely different when you have to move with one side of your body weighting more.

The second skill we worked on today was Bench Press Pauses, coach Andrew was asking for 5 reps of 5 and he wanted us to increase our weight as we went. What makes these different then your "regular" bench presses is the hold at the bottom. So you had to do a 2 second count while dropping the weight to your chest and then hold for a second just above your shirt, but not touching it and then a quick release back up. These were really good and as we went up in weight they got pretty tough (as expected).

We finished off the workout with 3 sets of 7 of each of these.. or until time ran out. Hanging Knee Raise, Dumbbell Pull Overs and Dumbbell Shoulder Lat Raises. I'm pretty good at hanging knee raises and then if the weight it light enough the lat raises were doable. I think the hardest thing for me was the DB pull overs. I used an heavier weight which made the task a bit harder. I know I got at least two sets of these done and about half way through my third set when time ran out.

Thanks coach Andrew for another great workout!!!

Coach Blair, Kakerlaken Poker & Cast Iron Utensils

Whenever I ask Coach Blair to take a picture of the class he always takes a selfie. It never fails, if I hand him my iPhone I'm going to get a selfie of Coach Blair. If you haven't noticed from these pictures he's a big ham and it's awesome. He's also one of the most enthusiastic, encouraging and warm hearted coaches at NerdStrong Gym. He knows his stuff and know exactly how much to push you, even when you don't think you have any more left in you.. Thanks Coach Blair.

Other randomness that happen today.. I got several things in the mail. First was a card game that I first played in England with my friend Erlend and Matt last year. It's called Kakerlaken poker, it's so simple to play and super fun. I've been wanting to get it for a while now, but it's fairly expensive for such a small and simple card game but I found a deal on ebay that I couldn't pass up. 

Here in the US it's called Cockroach Poker... Here's a bit more about the game and how to play it.. Cockroach Poker is a reverse set collection game that has nothing to do with poker – except that the game is all about bluffing, but with cards that show cockroaches, rats and stink bugs instead of queens, 10s and aces. The goal of the game is to force another player to collect 4 of any one type of critter.

The deck includes 64 cards, with eight copies of eight types of critters. On a turn, a player takes one card from his hand, lays it face down on the table, slides it to a player of his choice, and declares a type of critter, e.g., "Stink bug". The player receiving the card either... Accept the card, say either "true" or "false", then reveal the card. If this player is wrong in her claim, she keeps the card on the table in front of her face up; if she is right, the player who gave her the card places it face up before him. Of you can peek at the card, then passes it face down to another player, either saying the original type of critter or saying a new type. This new player again has the choice of accepting the card or passing it, unless the card has already been seen by all other players in which case the player must take the first option.

The game ends when a player has no cards to pass on his turn or when a player has four cards of the same critter on the table in front of him. In either case, this player loses and everyone else wins.

The other thing I got in the mail is part of my Samwise "The Hobbit" cosplay for SDCC this year. I was trying to find "fake" cast iron pots, pans and utensils as I didn't want to have all that weight on my back/backpack but that doesn't look like it's going to happen so I got these really old cast iron utensils. There not as heavy as I thought they would and I don't think I'll be hanging all four of them off the backpack so that will also help with keeping the weight down.

NerdStrong Gym - The Nerdy Thirty Workout

Today is a CON day and Coach Blair is back.. dun, dun, dun....

You can tell he missed us because his workout is just crazy. I usually get to class about 15 minutes before the start time and watch the earlier class finish up. You can always tell if the workout is going to be a good/tough one by the amount of gasping and sweating that's going on. Well this time folks looked tired but several of them saw me and said "Run"... "Run while you still can..". Now I've never considered not doing a workout after seeing what was planned but having folks actually tell me to leave while I still can didn't bode so well, but I didn't listen and stuck it out.

The warm up alone should have been the first sign. We did something called "Death by 10 meters" They mark out a 10 meter section and you start on one end. When coach says go you sprint to the other end.. it's not so bad. Then you get a :30 second break and have to do it again.. this time you are going 20 meters, so that means up and back. Again you sprint it and get another :30 second break before doing 30 meters.. this pattern continues until you are struggling to finish 150 meters with in the time allotted. In total we sprinted 1200 meters.. OMG!!

Now that we were extremely exhausted we began the "Nerdy Thirty Workout". As the name would suggest we did 30 reps of each of the items listed with no breaks and we had to complete it within 30 minutes. We started with Goblet Squats, then moved on to Dumbbell Shoulder Press, next was Plank Ups (which we renamed Pinkos). We then moved on to Box Jumps, then Dumbbell Bicep Curls and then Weighted Sit Ups. I was tired but feeling pretty good when I moved on to Wall Balls and then Renegade Rows. After the rows I was feeling a bit light headed. I took a few seconds to try and breath and relax a bit and the dizziness passed. I started the Overhead Kettlebell Swings and the dizziness came back in full force. I did about half of the reps before having to stop and sit.

Coach Blair asked me not to sit, instead stand and lean against the wall to help with breathing. Well that only lasted a minute as the dizziness wasn't going away and my vision and hearing started to be effected. Coach Blair then had me lie on my back and elevate my legs and just lay there.. that actually did the trick. After a few minutes my vision and hearing cleared up and the dizziness was gone. I was determined to finish in the allotted time. Everyone around me was finishing up while I finished my Overhead Kettlebell Swings and then moved on to the dreaded Burpees. I manged to get 15 done fairly easy but then had to tackle 5 at a time as I was exhausted and the dizziness was starting to return. Slowly but surely I finished all 30 Burpees and did it within the allotted time.

Towards the end all the other Nerdstrongers were done so they gathered around me and helped cheer me on for my final 15 burpees.. that was a huge help of encouragement. Just one of the many reasons I love this gym. Thanks coach Blair for the great workout and for helping get through the rough patch.

Podcast-Mania

Today I worked on a bunch of podcast stuff. I have a MASH 4077 Podcast due on May 1st and I hadn't even started editing it yet. So I spent a few hours cutting it together and polishing it off. I don't know why I can't get ahead with this podcast. When I record with my co-hosts we do six or so episodes at a time and my intention is to edited as many of them as I can as early as possible but it always seems I wait until the last possible minute to get it edited. I'm hoping I can change that habit, as when I'm forced to get something done it's no longer fun and becomes a job which I don't want my podcasting to become.

Afterwards I prepared notes for an upcoming Treks in Sci Fi guest podcast that I'll be doing with my fellow Treks in Sci-fi buddy Chris. Treks in Sci Fi is the same podcast that I am currently doing the Harry Potter podcasts with host Rico.

Chris and I have been wanting to co-host a podcast together for over a year and schedules never meshed or I would get busy and just not the have time. Today I finally said screw it.. asked him if he wanted to record in May and we set a time and date.

So I spent the next few hours gathering notes on one of my all time favorite fantasy movies Willow. After prepping the notes I can honestly say that I learned quite a bit and I'm looking forward to discussing this topic for the podcast.

I also might have another podcast in the works.. I can't say much right now but this one will be completely different from all my other podcasts.

Here's the status of all of my podcasts, past, present and future

The Ready Room Podcast This was my very first podcast, it was actually a mini cast for Treks in Sci Fi podcast which I use to send in comments to all the time. I also joined their forums and started an RPG Star Trek game there. This podcast was part of that RPG game and each episode we'd do dramatic readings of the story.. it was kind of like an audio drama. It lasted for 67 episodes and I made some amazing friends during this time. I also caught the podcasting bug and my life we never be the same.

The Knights of the Guild This is the official podcast for the webseries The Guild. I volunteered for season two as I was a huge fan of season one. I shot, edited and produced on all the BTS stuff for the DVD's of Seasons 2 & 3. During season three I came up with the idea of doing a companion cast for the webseries (one of the first ever) and continued to do that for the remaining seasons. This podcast kind of just faded away, I did a total of 128 podcasts, companion casts, and mini casts. I'm still hoping to do one final goodbye aka "Where are they now" kind of podcast to finish off this podcast.

Confession of the Fanboy When I first came up with the idea I wanted to chat with everyday geeks and nerds about their love of the genre. It never really fully become what I had in my head and after 12 episodes I placed this podcast on an indefinite hold. I may re-tool the idea and bring it back but right now it's on the back burner.

Alien Nation The Newcomer Podcast I'm a huge fan of Alien Nation and so is my brother. I've been wanting to do a podcast with him as we have some great chemistry. This podcast is still on going but due to my brother's family life, finding time to record has proven difficult at times and this podcast has taken some rather long hiatus'. We've been down since February of 2015 but I do hope to get some new podcast recorded very soon. We've done 33 episodes for this podcast so far.

My Gimpy Life Podcast Like with The Guild this podcast is a companion cast for the webseries My Gimpy Life. This podcast is only active when the series is and we are currently waiting to hear if there will be a season three or not. So far I have done 19 episodes for this podcast.

MASH 4077 Podcast I have always been a fan of MASH and wanted to create a podcast that looked at each episode.. one at a time. There were no other MASH podcasts on itunes at the time and I figured I could fill the niche. I asked two of my fellow Treks in Sci Fi forum friends Al and Meds if they wanted to join me and both accepted. This is now my longest running and currently most popular podcast getting 60,000 to 70,000 feed hits a month. We've done 106 episodes so far and we are only half way through the series.

The Geek Roundtable This is my general geek podcast that I have been wanting to do for years. If you notice all my podcast are pretty specific to one thing and I've always wanted to do a general geek podcast as I'm a fan of many geeky things. The idea of the podcast came to me and my former co-host Jen back in Oct. of 2010. We called it Epic Geek Out!!! Well time past and lives got busy and the idea kind of faded away. In 2012 I revived the idea but Epic Geek Out was taken so I changed the name to The Geek Roundtable and I also tweaked the concept a little bit. My former co-host Jen was busy with her own podcast and her family so I asked my friend Charles to co-host it with me. I even created a promo and was moving forward when life got in the way again and this podcast went on the back burner. Now in 2015 I decided that this is it.. this podcast is going to get off the ground. My co-host Charles moved on to his own podcast so I decided instead of having a co-host I'll just have several guest hosts... so I've booked some guest hosts and set up some topics when fate would get in the way again.. I found a job and once again this podcast has been put on hiatus. But no more.. I'm determined to get this podcast up and running by the summer. I don't care what I have to do but this podcast is going happen.. so stay tuned for more information about my all new geeky podcast.

NerdStrong Gym - Walking the Tightrope

It was nice taking off Monday but it's always great to get back to NerdStrong Gym. Today's workout was  good one.

We started with lots of stretching of our calves, then some pole squats before finishing with a tempo push ups.. oh and we had to do this warm up two times.

Coach Andrew said this week we'd be working on our balance. First thing he had planned was called a Tightrope. You usually use 2x4's but we didn't have any so instead we just used some tape that was on the floor. You'd think this would be a piece of cake.. yeah it wasn't.. at least not for me. We only had to walk the length of the gym, which is about 30 feet but that took some effort. Then on the way back he put several obstacles in our way and we had to step over them while not "falling" off the tightrope. We did another pass and this time he had us do it on our hands and feet. This was particularly tough when we had to go over the obstacles and was even harder for me as I am extremely short and had a tough time getting over those things. We then did it backwards.. if you thought going forward was tough, going backwards was another thing entirely. And the final pass was walking forward but having to hop over the obstacles while not "falling" off the tightrope. Needless to say that I learned I still have a ways to go on my balancing.

Next we did Ring Rows but these were different then our usual Ring Rows. We did 3 sets of 7 and this time we had to do Palms Down Ring Rows which really makes it alot more difficult to do them. We also had to do Vertical Ring Rows, which were even harder then the Palms Down version. And thought I love doing Ring Rows I was happy when this skill was over.

We then moved on to 4 rounds of 7x Box Jumps and 5x Nurpees.. yes that's Nurpees. They are the same as Burpees but without the push up. And I have to say they are alot easier to do when your tired.

We rested for 5 minutes before moving on to our final 10 minutes of workout. We had to do 3x Wall Balls and 3x Kettlebell Swings and then increase x3 for every round. Coach Andrew said that we should be able to get to 12x each of those things.. I'm happy to say that I got up to 15x each of those thing. So in the end I did 45x Wall Balls and 45x Kettlebell Swings in less then 10 minutes.. not a bad way to end a workout.

Thanks Couch Andrew for all that you do!!

Struggling with Healthy Eating

So today was my doctors visit (see previous blog post) and it was all good news.. which surprised me. Well I had hoped for good news but the past few weeks I haven't been doing so well with my new eating habits. Since I was out of town for Star Wars Celebration for four days that meant I did not get my NerdStrong workouts in and I ate "fast" food all four days. Once I got back, my workouts started back up fairly easy but my eating habits did not. It's not like I continued to eat "fast" food everyday, but I did snack a bit more then I usually do and I did eat out several times during the week, which I had gotten down to only once a week.

What is crazy is I can actually tell when I don't eat properly. Yes the fast food may taste amazing at the time, but it makes me sluggish and tired. My workouts are a bit tougher and I actually felt like I had gained some weight.

But no more..  I am determined to get back on that food band wagon and continue to eat properly. If you're a regular reader of my blog then you've been following my struggles with eating healthier, I don't think the struggle will ever end but I'm not going to let a set back like this throw me for a loop. I'm going to pick myself up, dust myself off and get back on that healthy eating horse.

Doctors Visit... Good News!!

Today was my check up with my new doctor. I got an ultrasound of my kidneys and bladder a few weeks ago and last week I gave some blood. Today I was getting all the test results... where to start. First of all my kidneys and bladder look great. My doctors feels that the extra levels of serum creatatine in my blood is from my large muscle mass, she says if the numbers stay were they are she's not really concerned, so will just continue to monitor.

Next we were seeing if my triglyceride were effected by being taken off, what my doctor felt, was an unnecessary medicine. And she was right.. my numbers were fine without the medicine, so she's going to keep me off it for now. I asked about being taken off my other meds (I take a pill for cholesterol and 2 pills for high blood pressure). She wants me to stay on the cholesterol medicine until I get to my more ideal weight and then will give it a go and she also wants me to stay on one of my blood pressure medicine indefinitely as it actually helps my kidneys but one of my blood pressure medicine she said I can can discontinue and then monitor my blood pressure everyday and see what happens. So I'll give that a go.. less pills make Kenny a happy boy.

The really BIG NEWS and the thing I was waiting to hear about was my A1C (blood sugar) numbers. Six months ago I clocked in with a 6.4, which put me on the verge of being a diabetic (which is 6.5 or higher). Three months ago after changing my diet and running every day I manged to get the number to 6.0, still considered pre-diabetic but moving in the right direction. Well today after 6 months of diet change, 3 months of running and 3 months of NerdStrong... I am happy to say that my A1C number is now at 5.7, which is only .1 away from being "normal" and no longer considered pre-diabetic.

I can't believe how far I have come in the past six months. I've lost 30lbs, gone down one shirt size and two pant sizes. The shape of my body is changing and I'm finally seeing the weight lose in my face. I don't know what the next six months will have in store for me but if they were anything like the last six, it's gonna be good.

Potter Podcast, Pathfinder Fun & Dinner with Friends

Today my friend Rico (of Treks in Sci Fi Podcast) released the next podcast in our Harry Potter series were he and I talk about the third installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. We cover both book and movie. This is my favorite book and possible my favorite movie. Take a listen as we talk details about the movie, our favorite parts and little known behind the scene facts. You can take a listen to the podcast HERE.

After Nerdstrong I came home and got ready for D&D/Pathfinder, today's session was starting a few hours earlier then our usual time but this actual worked out for me as I have plans in the evening and will still have to leave an hour before the session is suppose to end.

Today session started three days after our last two session battle. We were all healthy and back up to full HP. Our new quest is to infiltrate an Orc camp, we have to do this by finding a group of Orcs in the forest, kill them and then use hair or other body parts to put into a potion that will change our appearance into them (ala Polyjuice Potion in Harry Potter).

The first few days were uneventful and then the party found ourselves in the middle of a wild boar stampede. While we were trying to not be tramped we realized that these boars were running from giant Dire Wolves. It took a few of Dash's magic missiles and a a bunch of stabbing from the others but we manage to kill all five of the wolves.

We then came upon a small campsite with what looked to be four shady characters, a troll, a hobgoblin, and two humanoid males. Several of us tried to stealth in but due to some clumsy party members (bad dice roll) we were discovered. We also had one of our party members try to seduce the orcs but they were having none of it. Dash managed to get a few Fireballs off before I had to leave the party in the middle of the battle. I don't know how or even if it ended. I'll find out more next week when we continue our fifth adventure in Pathfinder... stay tuned.

And just a side note DM Dallas re-did my character token (as my original was a drawing and the rest were more realistic) but I'm actually happy with the new look of Dash.. He's one hot looking Halfing.. Also Dallas re-did Percy who's an NPC character that's been with us for a while now. Percy and Dash's friendship has blossomed into a quiet relationship... and after seeing Percy's new picture.. I total understand why Dash is attracted to him and vice verse. Two little Halfings in love.

Anyways.. after D&D/Pathfinder I headed back to my place as several of my friends were coming over for dinner and some games. Bruce, Martin, Moises, John, Tom and Ervin all arrived around 6pm and we enjoyed some spaghetti (which I made) and meatballs (which my friend Tom made). Along with some garlic bread and salad (made my Moises). It was a nice dinner and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We then played a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity before moving on to a fun game of Yahtzee. After Yahtzee, Martin, John and Moises said goodnight while Tom, Ervin, Bruce and I hung out for another half hour or so and just chatted. It was a nice way to end the evening.

NerdStrong Gym - Defeating Ultron

Coach Andrew posted the workout on twitter before my 10am class so I got a look at what was in store for me and it was frightening. Never has a workout required two board to cover it all. Well this one did.

So when I got to the gym I was a bit leery. The 9am people looked exhausted and I knew that was going to be me in an hour. Coach Andrew actually was doing the workout with the 10am class so Coach David was running the 10am class. He's always great at describing what's happening when it comes to themed workouts.

The idea behind this workout is AMAZING. I love that we first fight Ultron Prime and defeat him, we then fight version 1 which is new and improved. If we defeat that version then comes version 2 even bigger and badder... well we continue this pattern until we reach version 14 when we finally defeat the big bad Ultron... but will any of us survive until version 14?

There was a time limit on this workout... 30 minutes.

We started off easy.. 10x High Knees and then a mandatory :30 second break.. piece of cake.. Ultron Prime is defeated.  Next was version 1, 15x High Knees and 5x Squats. Again not to bad, feeling good and defeated version 1 and moved on to version 2, 20x High Knees, 10x Squats and 5x Lunges. Version 2 went down pretty easily and I'm thinking.... this isn't so bad I should be able to get to version 14. Well version 3 attacked with 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges and 5x Push Ups. Okay I'm starting to feel it but still going strong and move on to version 4. Version 4 is a bit worse with 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups and 5x CP Sit Ups. Still feeling good so I move on to version 5 ready for the fight.. version 5 had 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x CP Sit Ups and a :10 second Plank. Yeah now I'm defiantly feeling it, I struggle a bit but still defeat version 5. Next up version 6, 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x CP Sit Ups, :20 second Plank and 10x Bicycles. It's tough but I manage to defeat version 6 and move on to version 7, 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x CP Sit Ups, :30 second Plank, 15x Bicycles and a 70 meter run. The run was actually nice as it was cool outside and felt great on my face. Once back from the run version 8 attacked with 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x CP Sit Ups, :30 second Plank, 20x Bicycles, a 140 meter run and 10x Band Row. At this point you're on auto pilot hoping not to crash.. so I moved on to version 9, which was 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x CP Sit Ups, :30 second Plank, 30x Bicycles, a 140 meter run, 15x Band Row and 5x Pull Ups. Once I defeated version 9 I had only a minute left so I jumped in to battle version 10, 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x CP Sit Ups, :30 second Plank, 30x Bicycles, a 140 meter run, 15x Band Row and 10x Pull Ups and 5x Kettlebell HP. Well time ran out as I was doing my 10x Push Ups.

So that is where my battle ended.. I was in the middle of defeating version 10. I was extremely happy with where I ended, I was hoping to at least make it to version 9 as the majority of the people made it to 9 and 10. Only a handful made it to 11 and only one, Coach Andrew, made it to version 12. Nobody defeated version 14... so Ultron lives to fight another day.

This was an extremely tough but great workout. I think I even forgot to take my :30 second mandatory rest time because I just wanted to defeat the next version. As I said in previous posts it's intimidating when you look at a workout like this but when it's over you have this amazing feeling of accomplishment.

Over the course of this 30 minute workout I did, 205 High Knees, 135 Squats, 80 Lunges, 75 Push Ups, 55 CP Sit Ups, 130 seconds of Planking, 75 Bicycles, Ran 350 Meters, 25 Band Rows and 5 Pull Ups... that's just crazy cool.

Thanks to Coach David for another amazing coaching job and to Coach Andrew for coming up with this crazy ass workout.