On Sunday I shaved off my beard. It was required to help a friend with a technical run through for a project he is working on and I volunteered to help with. The test is done and I’m already growing the beard back.
I think it makes me look younger. These photos especially make me look younger because the glare from my monitor hides the wrinkles and bags under my eyes.
I have a chin. Who knew?
The reaction has been rather entertaining. People either don’t recognize me or look at me as I’ve been horribly disfigured. One friend wrote that if he found that his boyfriend had shaved down to a handlebar mustache, he would have to reconsider the relationship. That’s a bit extreme, but some people expressed their disapproval (online) quite clearly. It is interesting how passionate some guys appear to be about beards.
Still, several people liked it. One guy wrote “I like the white trash look. I’d bend over for you.”
The chin is visible for the first time since 1995.
Other reactions:
“ay que rico!!!”
“You look like a baby!”
“so scary :(”
“Grow it back!!”
“I’m thinkin’ it looks pretty hunky-dunky. Maybe it’s a Texas thang…”
“that stache has a damn hot white trash appeal to it ”
“I’m a beard guy…grow it back!”
“muy bieee-eeen ;)”
“*shwing!*”
“WHAT??? You still look hot, but I miss it already!”
“Umm, where is The Rob I know and what did you DO to him?”
“Uh, WHY???”
“Rob, definately keep the beard/grow it back”
“Yeah, you do have a nice chin. You know me Rob, I’m a Beardo and would normally have started crying when I saw this pic, so you know I mean it. ”
While I kind of like the new look, I’m not going to keep it. The stubble has already appeared and I expect by this weekend the beard will be back, if still short. I don’t like feeling the air against my chin and cheeks, especially when it is cold and damp out, and most importantly, Fuad misses the beard.
OK, it seems fitting that my first real post since May be about myself, so here goes…
I met with a guy today that has been in three natural bodybuilding competitions and is also a certified fitness trainer (like Fuad) and dietitian. Why? I’d like to put on 10 – 20 pounds of muscle, specifically to build up my arms, legs and shoulders. He developed a new training routine and diet for me – it will be the biggest change in my workout in eleven years and the biggest change in my diet in ten.
The diet he gave me is designed to help a 220 pound guy (me) gain lean body mass. It works for him, but will it work for me? Time will tell. If I can gain 10 pounds this year I’ll call it a success.
Here’s the diet:
6am breakfast: 10 egg whites and 2/3 cup of oatmeal
9am 2nd breakfast: 7 oz lean protein and 1 cup of complex carbs (for example, brown rice)
Noon: 7 oz lean protein, 1 cup of complex carbs and 1 cup of vegetables or salad with fat-free dressing
3pm meal: 7 oz lean protein, 1 1/3 cup of complex carbs and 1 cup of vegetables or salad with fat-free dressing
6pm dinner: 7 oz lean protein, 2/3 cup of complex carbs and 1 cup of vegetables or salad with fat-free dressing
9pm meal: 10 egg whites or a protein shake and 1/3 cup of oatmeal
The goal is to keep my insulin level stable all day while providing enough calories and macro-nutrients to help me gain weight.
He gave me a suggested shopping list too. I probably won’t follow this completely until next weekend when I can pull everything together, but that will give me time to plan it out.
Here’s the training routine:
For the first four weeks has me following a 2 day cycle, push/pull routine. Day one covers chest, shoulders, triceps and calves. Day two covers legs, back, biceps and abs. He suggests I lift four days per week (days 1,2,4,5), do push ups, dips and abs on day 3, and take days 6 and 7 off.
The specific exercises he has me doing right now are basic mass builders. High-reps, low weigh this week, lower-reps, higher weights for the following three week. If anyone is interested I can write it out.
I’ve restored most of my posts from the past six years. At least the ones I’m going to restore. I still have a few categories to work through, including “politics.” I’ll hit those in the next week or so. Now I’m off to study vocabulary.
Just FYI, over time I will be restoring old entries from my blog. There are around 800, and they won’t all get restored, but some of the ones I particularly like or that are otherwise important to me will be back.
I should be doing my Arabic homework but instead am writing my first entry into the new / resumed / updated blog. It’s not long, just a quick post to let anyone who may stop by know that the video Ivan and I made last year is now on YouTube.
To make this happen, I had to perform and record the song myself. I entered, arranged and “performed” the song in Sibelius, my friend Jim recorded me singing it, then he did the mixing and sound editing needed to create the soundtrack. I’m not complete happy with my performance – every time I went to record it I would get a cold or cough my brains out while trying to sing with a rough, gravelly voice – but it is time to move on.
This is yesterday’s news, except that it isn’t. The federal trial challenging the constitutionality for Proposition 8 is happening right now here in San Francisco.
A few days ago, I bought a new MacBook to replace my aging 12″ PowerBook. I want to use Final Cut Express to edit my own HD videos. Ivan lent me the tutorial book he used to learn it, which comes with a DVD containing about 4 Gb of practice materials.
I tried to copy the contents of the DVD to the local disc as the book requested and about half-way through I got “Error Code -36,” which is a generic message for an input/output error. I think, OK, the disc is dirty, clean it and try again. Which I do, twice, but observe the same behavior. I start researching the issue online only to find this is a common problem with Macs and OS X. Go ahead, google it, I’ll wait. Many of the hits described problems with with larger files, often with media files – which was exactly what I was trying to copy.
Hmph.
One of the links I found explained that going under the UI to UNIX might help, so I did that. I launched Terminal and tried to copy the CD to the new MacBook using the cp command. It was working! Then … same error at about the same time.
Hmph.
I decided it must be the DVD. Then I realize – I have two other Macs to try it on. So I pop it into the three year-old Intel-based Mac mini running Leopard. Not only does it copy the entire DVD without a hiccup, it copies it about 50% faster.
Hmph.
Next I tried the four year-old G4-based PowerBook running Tiger. Not only does it also copy the entire DVD without a hiccup, it also copies it about 50% faster. Plus, it also worked fine on Ivan’s new iMac, which naturally has Leopard. So, I conclude that the problem isn’t the DVD, it’s the MacBook. But it is the OS? The SuperDrive?
Hmph.
Since I had copied the files to the PowerBook during my testing, it occurred to me that I may be able to copy them to the MacBook via our network. This worked like a charm, so the original goal was at least accomplished. But I still don’t know what was causing the “Error Code -36,” not to mention that it wasted about four hours of my time.
I haven’t experienced a problem with the few other DVD’s I’ve tested, so maybe the SuperDrive in the MacBook is simply finicky. I don’t know, but I can report that the MacBook is otherwise fabulous so far.
Last week the House of Representatives approved a bill expanding existing federal hate-crime laws to include gender, gender identity, disability and sexual orientation. It would increase the penalties for specific crimes as well as allow the federal government to provide grants for the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. It would also allow the federal government to step in and prosecute if states requested it or declined to exercise their authority.
Some people oppose legally singling out certain crimes as “hate crimes” and I understand where they are coming from. After all, murder is murder, assault is assault, right? We already have laws covering those crimes – what is the point of more? I’m not going to explore this issue here, arguable though it is.
The fact is, we already have hate-crime legislation covering certain actions against certain groups already*, and congress may expand that coverage to additional groups.**
Republicans and religious groups oppose this bill. Surprise. Again, I accept that there are genuine conservatives out there that would rather not have any hate-crime laws on the books, but I’m not referring to them here. I’m referring to the Republicans and religious groups that are bent out of shape because the proposed legislation covers gays, lesbians, et al.
Some Republicans claim the measure will be struck down as unconstitutional. They assert that it allows a person to be charge twice for the same act, once for a violent crime and once for a hate crime – a form of “double jeopardy,” if you will. I’m not an attorney so I can’t address the validity of this claim, though it leaves me wondering that if it is unconstitutional why haven’t existing hate-crime laws been struck down already?
I suspect the real issue here is many of these Republicans are not so much offended by the idea of hate-crime legislation as they are by the people the laws are intended to protect. If this law was solely for race and religious hate crimes I wonder how many of them would be up in arms.
Other Republicans argue that religious leaders could face criminal charges for speaking out against homosexuality*** or, at the very least, would be reluctant to state their views, which brings us to the religious groups. You know, the ones that live in some deep, dark fantasy land where black is white and wrong is right. Groups led by people like Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, who is concerned that the bill would subject religious leaders to prosecution if someone who heard a sermon denouncing homosexuality and then went out and attacked a person because of his/her sexual orientation. This scenario “ends up criminalizing free speech,” Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R – Wisconsin) said.
In response, supporters of the hate-crimes bill point to a section of the bill that protects any activities protected by the Constitution and counter that nothing would prevent religious leaders from speaking out.
It boils down to this: religious people think they have a god-given right to be bigots. They can – no – they must preach hate against an entire demographic group because they believe their holey book requires it.****
Here is what I have to say to these religious fanatics: if you think your religion gives you the right to be a bigot, then your religion is unnatural, evil, and so are you.
Religious freedom does not extend to oppression. Like the t-shirt says, your religious freedom ends where my civil rights begin.
* It is my understanding that currently this only covers attacks against certain groups while engaged in a federal activity – say, voting.
** Forty-five states have hate-crime laws of some sort. The exceptions? Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming.
For some reason I was inspired to buy the movie Xanadu on amazon.com so I could show it to Fuad. It came with a CD of the soundtrack, which I listened to this week for the first time in … 25 years? Longer?
I mentioned this to Chuck at the Brannan Gold’s last night. We’ve started going to Brannan on Friday nights because it is nearly empty, which is a rare thing in this city.
“I still remember all the words,” I said in between sets. “And I haven’t heard it in decades. It’s so 1980.” I was a freshman in high school when the movie came out. It fascinated me. This must have been my mom’s first clue that my bread was buttered on the other side.
“You could also show him Grease,” Chuck suggested. “Olivia was in that too.”
“That’s a good idea. You know, I think I had a crush on her at the time. Or something. She was so pretty.”
“Well she does look a lot like your mom,” he said before laughing. “Oh, wait, there’s something not right about having a crush on someone that looks like your mom.” He shook his head.
“You’re right, she does.” I’d never thought of that, at least consciously. “They are probably the same age and even now they both still look great.” They could easily pass for sisters.
“Yep,” Chuck agreed.
I think we’ll watch the movie this weekend. I’m interested to get Fuad’s take. If he likes it I’ll order Grease, because grease is the word.
Tony: it never ceases to amaze me just how ugly hatred is: Miss California Carrie Prejean
Carl: Right?!?
Ivan: Well they have their new Anita Bryant, and this time she is going to get more than just a pie on her face. Maybe the implants will burst… I’m just saying.
Rob: Amen!
Michael: It is sad that we need to live our lives as second class citizens. I have learned to live like one and it sucks.
Tony: the funny thing is that if she made a racist remark she’d be stripped of her crown so fast, her head would spin.
Some background: Carrie Prejean, an ignorant 21-year-old creature who said she opposed same-sex marriage during the Miss USA pageant and later said she would rather be “biblically correct than politically correct,”* is going to join up with the hate group “National Organization for Marriage,” which would be more accurately named the National Organization of Morons Who don’t want Homos to be Able to Get Hitched.
She is going to help NOMWHAGH launch a campaign opposing same-sex marriage. In response, Rob has decided to launch a campaign to have her stripped of her title because hate criminals shouldn’t be title holders. In the meantime, he’s still trying to figure out why some people think they have the right to impose their fairy tales on everyone else.
And he’s wondering who is manipulating her. Other than her church.
The 21-year-old says that marriage is “something that is very dear to my heart” and she’s in Washington to help save it. Rob can only speculate as to what she is trying to save it from and how something can be very dear to a heart she obviously lacks.
Someone should make a video about her.
* Funny, I’d rather be genuinely correct than biblically brainwashed blithering beauty queen correct.
For some reason I was inspired to buy the movie Xanadu on amazon.com so I could show it to Fuad. It came with a CD of the soundtrack, which I listened to this week for the first time in … 25 years? Longer?