Thursday, November 26, 2015

Thanksgiving Once Again

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy your toast, jelly beans, and popcorn!



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Thursday, November 19, 2015

The Race, She Is Done

Running AND smiling? Yup, I've lost my mind.
This past Saturday was "The Rocky Balboa Run" in Philadelphia. This was my first ever 5k race. Actually, it was my first ever race, period. Why I decided to do this is two-fold, really. First, the guys over at NeoZAZ were doing it, and it seemed like a great opportunity to actually meet them. It was fun meeting all the guys that I've heard on their podcasts, and even spoken to myself, but have never been face-to-face with.

The second reason is more important, and that's my health. I've lost a good amount of weight over the past two years, but with my family history of heart disease, I knew that I couldn't just lose weight and call it a day. No, I had to get the dreaded "exercise". Now I've tried doing stuff at home and it never stuck, and I know that going to a gym wouldn't work because I'd find an excuse to avoid it.

Running in a race, however, not only gave me a goal (that of not embarrassing myself) but it gave me a great way to work out. I started slow, only doing a mile and just walking. Eventually, though, I got up to regularly doing more than the 5k distance, and in a pretty decent time.

Now that I'm in the habit, I'm doing the training even with no race. I am looking into signing up for some other races, but nothing definite yet*. Still, if I can keep this up, I might just get into decent shape. Not a bad goal.

Oh, if you're curious as to how I did, here's the breakdown:

Distance:          3.1 Miles
Net Time:        33:14
Average Pace: 10:42 minutes/mile
Overall Place:  1271 out of 3107
Men's Rank:     729 out of 1348

For a first attempt at anything like this, ever, I'd say I did pretty well.


* If anyone is in the South Jersey area and would like to get involved in any races that I'm going to participate in, just let me know and I'll keep you in the loop.

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Thursday, November 12, 2015

The Artmor Project

Do you like Star Wars?
Are you free at 6 PM Eastern on Sunday, November 29th?
Do you want to help out Toys for Tots?


If you answered "Yes" to all of these, then might I suggest checking out this year's Artmor Project Auction. The Artmor Project was the brainchild of the guys over at NeoZAZ as a way to raise money for charity and to create some one of a kind pieces of art. They take blank Mandalorian chest armor (as worn by Boba Fett) and use that as their canvas, making some really striking art pieces. Just check out the image below for some of last year's creations.


Don't have the funds to bid on one of these pieces? I'm in the same boat, but you can always donate directly. Here's the link: http://www.neozaz.com/artmor-project-donation/


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Like what I'm doing here on the blog and podcast? Why not check out my Patreon Page to see how you can help me do more? http://www.patreon.com/TheHammerStrikes

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Imagination is a Terrible Thing to Waste

My friends on Facebook already have heard this, but I figured I'd put it out there to the wider world. As you know, my Aunt and Uncle have been rediscovering some of my old toys and sending them to me. After dealing with the flood of memories, I've been giving them to my daughter to play with, although I prefer that she does it when I'm around. (Daddy's privilege.)

The other day, we received a small package with my old Michael Knight figure in it, still in pretty decent shape. So, as usual, I gave it to Kira to play with. The problem is that she doesn't know who Michael Knight is, but she does know who Mike Rowe is, and loves his shows.


Since it was a "new" toy, she wanted to play with all of my old toys, so we got them out. Now I have the Hall of Justice, but no Super Powers figures, so she used the GI Joes in their place, using the Hot Wheels as their vehicles.


So we had, for what I'm sure is the first time ever, the call come from the Hall of Justice: "Mike Rowe! We need you!" This is what I call an imaginative kid, but what do you expect from someone that plays with My Little Pony and Snake Eyes at the same time?

So why am I telling you all this? Well, for the simple fact that kids today seem to have a lot of regimented play, mainly imposed by their parents. "No, you can't play with those two toys together" and "That's <character x>, you can't say it's <character y>" are phrases that should never be heard. I am always entertained by what Kira comes up with, because EVERYTHING she does has a story, and these are toys. They're meant to be played with, not put up on a shelf to gather dust.

So, let's get out of our kids' way when it comes to playing. Let them be kids and think up the craziest ideas for playing with their toys. It'll serve them better in the future.


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Like what I'm doing here on the blog and podcast? Why not check out my Patreon Page to see how you can help me do more? http://www.patreon.com/TheHammerStrikes