Food, Games, Photos, and stuff that isn't any of those things

Author: Jesse (Page 2 of 2)

Heroes of the Storm!

WARNING! This is a post about video games. If that’s not your bag, turn back now.

I was very fortunate and was given access to the Heroes of the Storm alpha that’s going on right now! Not being a huge fan of MOBAs in general (I’ve played League of Legends, DotA, DotA2) I didn’t really know what to expect. I’ll have more thoughts as the Alpha progresses, but so far, it’s amazing! It takes all of the stuff I hate about MOBAs, and fixes them! This game surely won’t be for everyone. I’m sure a lot of DotA2 players will be annoyed by the absence of items, how “few” characters there are, and the different level mechanics. But this looks to me to be a gateway to that realm of gaming, much like Hearthstone is for CCGs.

More to come, but for now, if you’re interested at all in Heroes of the Storm, check out some of the streamers on Twitch and see what you think.

Lunches, my white whale

Call me, Ishmael? Please?

Call me, Ishmael? Please?

TLDR; skip to the bottom, I’m asking for some ideas.

“Call me Ishmael. Call me whatever you want, just don’t call me late to lunch!” Especially when that lunch is an awesome hot dog, or a jerk chicken sandwich, or fried chicken, or waffles! I may not be haunted by a giant, ghostly white whale that destroyed my ship and took off half my leg, but much like Captain Ahab I do have a nemesis: food trucks! For the last 18 months or so they’ve been coming to a few different locations at work, plying their delicious wares.

Now if you read my last post then you know this is a bit of a problem if I’m going to follow my 3 step plan for making everybody love me again! Oh…wait…that’s a different plan. We don’t talk about that plan. What I mean is, if I’m going to stop eating lunch from a food truck on a regular basis, I need a bigger harpoon.

This metaphor isn’t holding up quite like I’d hoped…

In this case, “bigger harpoon” means some delicious, minimal prep required once in the office, lunches.

(TLDR folks can start here.) I need suggestions for exactly this type of thing. What are your favorite things to make for lunch? I can handle a sandwich every once in a while, but those get old fast. I’d love some recipes I can make on a Sunday, and that I can use a couple different ways throughout the week. I’m cool spending a few hours on the weekend shopping/cooking, if it means I don’t have to get up an extra 30 minutes early to put something together. That’s pretty much a non-starter. Daddy needs his beauty sleep after all!

So what do you have for me, internet? Hit me! Links are awesome. Your secret, not-posted-anywhere-on-the-internet-but-in-the-comment-section-below ideas are even better! And they’ll stay secret, because lets be honest, nobody else is reading this yet 😉

Getting back in shape

WARNING! This is the first of what is likely to be several posts about me trying to get into better shape. I’m mostly writing these posts as a way to try and hold myself accountable. If I put this stuff out there, I’m more likely to stick with it. I’ll try to avoid making them too boring for you guys. And I would appreciate a bit of help and input 🙂

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. They just don’t work! I mean, the intent behind them is good. You want to make a change in your life. The new year is symbolic of the new you (queue image of the old guy with a long beard standing next to a baby).

Oh yeah...I can add these now, huh?

Oh yeah…I can add these now, huh?

See, the problem is that making a big change in your life sounds great in principle, but they’re very difficult to stick to. Old habits die hard and all that. So I’ve stopped trying to make big, sweeping changes, opting instead for attempting smaller changes. Now, I won’t lie to you.  I’m bad at even making small changes in my life. Especially if those changes entail giving up (or even cutting down on) my favorite foods, reducing my gaming time to work out, or having to get up any earlier in the morning. Combine this with 4 years at a desk job, and I’ve put on a few pounds. How many, exactly? Let’s just say at 6’3″, I’ve traveled north of the 3lbs per inch mark. I’ve decided it’s time to work that number south.

I’m going to guess that many of you have shuffled off at this point. Another post from some random person on the internet that wants to lose weight. But if you’ve stuck around this far, we’re getting down to the meat and potatoes (see, this is why I’m having trouble losing weight, even my expressions are food related!). I need your help to keep me accountable to some of the changes I’m trying to make! “What do I need to do to help you out?” you may be asking yourself. Well….not a lot, actually. Here’s what I’m thinking.

I have what are the beginnings of a plan:

  1. Go to the gym! I’m doing OK on this one so far. Since New Years, I’ve averaged a little more than once a week, only missing weeks for illness. My activity of choice has been swimming. It’s a fantastic workout, something I find much more interesting than a treadmill, and it’s very easy for me to measure my progress. First week I swam I struggled hitting 500 yards in my 30 minutes. Yesterday I hit 1500 yards in 30 minutes! Still a long way to go, but progress is encouraging. (Nothing for you to do here, other than read about my occasional experience.)
  2. Drink less. I used to have a beer most nights after work, a glass of wine once or twice a week with dinner, then cocktails/wine when I’m out with my wife for dinner. Add in occasional nights where you’re at a bar with friends, and it adds up pretty quickly. Now 99% of the time I was drinking responsibly, but it’s just a lot of extra empty calories that are working against me. For the last couple of months I’ve been trying to only drink on 2 occasions: out to dinner, or out with friends. I’ve mostly kept to it, and I think it’s helping, at least a little. (Nothing much to do here either! Maybe give me crap if I try to order “just one more” when we’re out together. See, isn’t this easy!)
  3. Bring my own lunch to work. This one I’m absolutely terrible at. For a brief few weeks last year I’d try making myself something on Sunday that would last me at work through the week. I got so bored of what I was making that the whole thing fell apart. What I really need are good ideas, easy recipes, and something to keep me interested in the face of the delicious food trucks that constantly show up outside our office. (This one I could use immediate help with!)

So there’s my plan. Work out, drink less, eat better at work. Pretty straight forward, and none of these changes are too big. I’m already doing 2 of them pretty well! With some help from you guys, maybe number 3 won’t be so bad either! So what do you have for me? What are your favorite things to take with you for lunch? How do you do your lunch planning? How do you stop yourself going to get fried chicken from the food truck every Wednesday? No…really…how do you do that?

Umm…..hi, I guess?

I can’t say that this is the first time I’ve tried to start a blog. I also can’t promise I’ll actually follow through this time. But if I do an honest assessment, I think this one has a pretty good chance of sticking. In the past I’ve always tried to have a very narrow focus (for example: Starcraft 2, photography, my random thoughts, etc, etc, etc). Very quickly, with each of those attempts, I came to realize I didn’t have the time to dedicate to any one of those topics. That in turn led to those blogs being dropped even more quickly. This time I’ve made the decision to go with more of a shotgun approach. I may not be able to dedicate enough time to do nothing but write about food, but I sure eat enough that I can come up with something to say a few times a month. Same goes for video games, or photography, or whatever else. It being early March, I’d wager that at least one of my early posts will revolve around the Sounders (first match on Sunday! WOO!)

I’ll end this first post with a few photos, because I guess why not? Come back soon, there will be more. Probably. Definitely. Maybe. Yeah…..

Seahawks 747 over the Super Bowl Rally at CenturyLink
Downtown Seattle from Kerry Park. Maybe you recognize it from the header?

 

 

Pre-Posting Edit: So I decided it would be a good idea to change my WordPress install location before I sent out my first post. HUGE MISTAKE! I screwed it up and uhh…it all went away. Fortunately installing WordPress and getting everything setup for a second time goes much quicker. This is why you don’t do this stuff at 11pm after a full day of work and a trip to the gym.

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