Monday, December 30, 2013

Boy & Their Toys...

Last week I broke down & bought a smartwatch. I've been waiting for Apple to release a smartwatch since 2010, when 3rd party cases started showing up for the Nano - allowing you to wear your iPod on your wrist as a watch. 

But the Smartwatch 2 (Sony) & Galaxy Gear (Samsung) swooped-in to land the 1st major smartwatch punches with early fall releases this year. So I went with a 3rd party company in Pebble to satisfy my immediate new tech craving.

It's a pretty good watch & should do just fine for the time being. There's a wide range of cell phone app notifications & alerts that sync seamlessly with the watch in real-time. I once wondered about the practicability of a smartwatch, clearly many simply aren't ready for this particular piece of tech.

But it's pretty convenient not having to pull my phone out of my pocket to change my music, read an alert, text message, or email so often. If the industry manages to continue successful development of the smartwatch functionality & services that people can actually use, they could be the next big thing.

Again, the Pebble smartwatch I have is just a stop-gap until The Big A gets their shit together in 2014. Color graphics, swipe gestures, a camera & voice assistance are some of the things the Samsung & Sony smart watches are respectively capable of, so I expect similar features, at minimum, for Apple's rendition - especially, since they are so damned late to the party. But I'm pleased with the overall functionality of the Pebble smart watch.

The ball is in your court Apple, we're waiting...

Friday, December 27, 2013

Leveling Off...

Today I bought a new suit for work & also a new belt as a Christmas present to myself. I'd completely run-out of holes in my last belt (yet another reminder of my rapid weight gain, lol). 

But that aside, I think the weight gain has actually flattened out over the past few weeks (fingers crossed), I'm comfortable buying new clothes again, anyway.

After sporting suit sizes of 36, 38 & 40 this year, it looks like I've finally settled in at a size 42 (fingers crossed). I've been hovering at 200lbs for the past month or so, I'd now fight in the cruiserweight class, should I choose to lace-up the boxing gloves (lol).

It still hasn't quite been a year since I quit smoking, but it seems my body has finally made the adjustment. The internal panic alarms have been silenced & my body no longer seems to be experiencing any if the normal withdrawal symptoms - looks like I've kicked it!

One of my challenges in 2014 is to establish a regiment of cleaner eating & really, just healthier living in general. Now that I've taken steps to eliminate some of the unnecessary toxins from my body, it makes a lot more sense to maintain the upkeep of this temple :-)

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Making Spirits Bright...

Christmas Day treated me well this year. I got exactly what I wanted, so I should be pretty occupied well into the new year. 

Shootin' the breeze at home earlier today was nice, it's always cool to spend time as a nuclear family, whenever the time allows for such. Ma & Dad both seemed to be in good spirits, so as for Christmas, 2013 - I guess that's a wrap (pun intended).

Now I'm turning my attention toward the rapidly approaching new year. I still have no idea what I want to do for New Year's Eve, so I need to get on top of that ASAP. 

I'm kinda leaning towards an evening at home, or perhaps a small shindig at someone else's humble abode - essentially I'm not all that interested in 'going out,' this year, but I'll just remain non-committal for now.

I've got a positive outlook going into the new year. I guess that's not all that uncommon for folk this time of year, but still I'm looking forward to everything the new year has to bring!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Celebrity Crush...

1st off, I'm not even sure my latest celebrity crush even counts as a celebrity crush... 

Ms Anne-Marie Greene is a news anchor currently working the 2a to 4a & 4a to 4:30a CBS morning news shows. 

Clearly she's still paying her national airtime dues by working such time slots, but I imagine she's one of the next on-air personalities who'll soon find herself getting more & more primetime airplay in the years to come.

Though tv/movie producers & executives are clearly in love with lighter toned & mixed-race women, I've never really been partial to either one, guess I'm a fan of both white & dark chocolate :-) 

But as stated earlier, I get up at 4a to watch this woman during the work week, so I'd say that qualifies as an attraction, lol. I'm often reminded of Soledad O'Brien when I catch Ms. Green working the news desk.

The native Canadian is no spring chicken either, at 42 years of age, she's definitely been around the block a few times (sorry Anne-Marie, lol). But I recently learned that Soledad is 46, so I guess youth isn't so much the name of the game anymore. 

She spent roughly 8 years as a Philadelphia news personality before going national earlier this year. Unfortunately for me, she's married with a child, so I don't anticipate running off with her anytime soon... I guess the 4a time-slot will have to do for now, lol.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Peace, Hope & Joy...

Well I finished-up my annual Christmas shopping earlier today, the 6th day of December - that's a new world record for me! This year's shopping list was basically the same size as it was last year, I was just more proactive about it this go-round! 

I already sent my Christmas cards out last week, so I'm good to go in that department too. The Christmas tree is now up & the decorative exterior lighting has now been installed. 

There's currently Christmas music playing throughout the house - only thing missing right about now is the smell of sugar cookies baking & I've actually got a candle for that, lol. So, there's nothing left for me to do now except sit-around & enjoy this beautiful season of giving.

Let's see... what kind of Christmas movie shall I watch today? A cartoon, a romantic comedy, or maybe 1 of those made for tv holiday dramas, hmmm.... so many decisions, lol. Anyway, you can see I'm ready for the big day & poised to receive my blessing, hopefully you & yours are all set to receive your blessings too!