The Simpson Blog

Scott and his newphew
Originally uploaded by BigAssSuperBlog. Big Ass Superstar meets a superstar-to-be, Ewan.

Hey, what a trip.

We flew out to Ontario on Saturday for a week-long tour. We flew with Westjet, and really enjoyed it. The price was on par with Air Canada, and a lot more fun. The satellite teevees in the seatbacks made the time fly. The cabin crew cracked jokes and sang. Free cookies. Lots of fun.

My dad picked us up from Pearson and drove us to Stratford for a quick visit with mom, and then over to visit my sister Shannon and her hubby Chris, and their new baby Ewan. Chris and Shannon are taking to this parenting thing really well.

My folks hooked us up with a mack-daddy suite at the Arden Park Hotel, which was our base for the first half of the week. They also kindly lent us the pick-up truck for easy and reliable transportation in the cold and snow. Cold (!!!) and snow! What a novel concept this winter!

Amanda drove us in to Toronto on Sunday. She went to Ajax to visit family while I spent the afternoon with my good friend Sandra. It was nice to spend time with my buddy, talk, a…

Let's start out with the scale for week 19:

Start weight: 220 pounds
Last week: 210
This week: 208
Change: -2
Total loss: 12 pounds

Week 18 was steady at 210.

So, I have two weeks to recap here. First off, I was excited as heck to go shopping for some new clothes to wear on the bigass vacation to Ontario. We went to Old Navy a coupla days before the journey to seek out some new jeans and maybe a shirt or two.

Not only did I find two pairs of jeans I liked -- they're size 36! I haven't been a 36 since the 1990s. Hell, I was a 36 back in high school. My goal size, set out in Week Zero, was 36. And now I have size 36 jeans that fit, and fit comfortably. I've been a 40 or 42 for a long time, so this is quite a treat.

I wrote last time about skipping the chocolate milk and energy drink in the morning. That went alright for the week. I didn't entirely eliminate pop -- I had a couple of cans of Diet Pepsi during the week -- but cut way down.

But that's not to say my eating…

Yay! I'm an uncle!

Tonight, my sister gave birth to Ewan James. My first nephew! Nearly two weeks overdue, and probably well worth the wait.

Eight pounds, two ounces. I don't know anything about baby weights, but that sounds pretty cool.

New birthday, then, to add to the BlackBerry!

Congratulations to my sister and my bro-in-law, and my parents who are now grandparents. Whoa!

Ate better this week and got downstairs to the gym a few times. So, I was expecting some results on the scale ... no dice, unfortunately.

Start weight: 220 pounds
Last week: 210
This week: 210
Change: 0
Total loss: 10 pounds

Fair enough.

We watched a marathon session of Channel 4's You Are What You Eat, aka "the poo show." Quack nutritionist "Doctor" Gillian McKeith examines the eyeballs, tongues, fingernails and excrement of fat Brits to diagnose specific vitamin deficiencies. She badgers people about their evil food intake and bullies them into eating aduki beans, quinoa ("keen-wah"), millet (budgie food), and other tasteless food, plus hounds them into exercising. And, inevitably, they end up feeling bright, cheery, horny, happy, and about two stone lighter at the end of the eight-week intensive. As much as I think she's a fraud on several levels, there's no arguing with her success.

Point being, it's hard to sit through three hours of this …

After turkey, chocolate, caramel corn and leftover turkey, chocolate and caramel corn, my weight ballooned up last time. Thankfully, a more normalized diet and a return to moderate exercise has halted the upward trend.

Start weight: 220 pounds
Last week: 213
This week: 210
Change: -3
Total loss: 10 pounds

We had McDonald's on the weekend. Actually, we had a surprising amount of bad food on the weekend. My Saturday started out with Kellogg's Frosted Flakes for breakfast, Toblerone and Baked Lay's throughout the day, Kraft Dinner and hot dogs for dinner, and then we went bowling. At bowling, I did something I very rarely do any more: drink full-sugar pop.

Soda pop ("fizzy drink" as the brits call it) is, as I understand it, terrible stuff for you. If you saw how much sugar goes into a can of cola, you'd probably think someone was trying to scare you. And you should be scared. It's freaky. And it may be worse in the U-S-and-A, as their Coke is made with high-fruct…

Two stories of Big Ass Stupidity...

Mere weeks ago, I was bored at the end of my shift, and thought ... hey, I once bought a cool laser show projector off eBay. And after a week, I clumsily knocked it off a shelf and broke it. Why not get another one? They were only about $50. It'd be cool, and I want one.

So, I went to ebay, did a search, and found an even cooler one on an auction ending in less than four hours, with a high bid of $50. Perfect. I showed my co-host, and bid, let's say, $52. Immediately outbid. Okay, how about I put in $55 as my max bid. Cool, I was the top bidder.

Then I saw the shipping cost. $42. Forty two AMERICAN dollars, on top of my bid price. Jee-zus. I started hoping that someone would outbid me.

Nobody did. Next morning, I greeted the computer with, "AW, FUCK!" at seeing that I now had to pay $94.50 US for something I really was interested in spending maybe $60 for.

Thing arrived, and yeah, it's pretty cool. Postage actually cost about $…

Turkey, Toblerone, sparkling wine, brownies, chips, and the laziness of Christmas added up to a predictable outcome ... last week, I forecast that "I wouldn't be surprised to see me back at 213 or 215 next week." How did my prediction turn out?

Start weight: 220 pounds
Last week: 210
This week: 213
Change: +3
Total loss: 7 pounds

Okay, then. No surprises. So, it's back to the routine. Gotta get the veggies back into the routine and ease up on the indulgences. And, of course, get back to getting sweaty. I returned to the gym on January 1 and felt good about it. Let's see if I can shed that holiday weight by next week!

The view from our balcony at midnight, January 1, 2007, as fireworks explode above Halifax City Hall.