I found out about the Friday Feast via Chimpotle originally. But I feel like linking Logtar today.

Appetizer
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as highest), how much do you like your own handwriting?

I have the uncanny ability to make my writing more masculine or feminine at a whim. I have mad handwriting skillz. Also, back when I expected to be a famous athlete and expected to be signing jerseys and whatnot all the time, I perfected my signature. My signature is awesome. It looks like the signature of someone who is famous. You should probably ask for my autograph sometime.

Soup
Do you prefer baths or showers?

The problem with baths is that the water gets cold and tubs are never large enough to accommodate my large…frame. Huge tubs and one of those immersion temperature controls (like they use for molecular gastronomy) - I could really get into baths (get it?). But I don’t think they make immersion cookers that large so I almost never take them.

Salad
What was the last bad movie you watched?

Sweeney Todd. That movie was well-acted and really really bad.

Main Course
Name something you are addicted to and describe how it affects your life.

Chipotle. Alli and I can’t really stop, which makes it very difficult to lose weight. We are certain that there are addictive chemicals in it that make us crave it fortnightly.

Dessert
Which instrument is your favorite to listen to?

It’s a tossup between acoustic guitar and piano. I think that the sitar is a beautiful instrument, but only in the right setting. Acoustic guitar and piano work nearly everywhere.

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Appetizer
If you could be any current celebrity for one whole week, who would you want to be?

I’d like to be someone that could play an instrument or two. John Mayer or John Legend or someone like that.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you enjoy talking on the phone?

I like talking in person a lot. Over the phone…now that I have a Jawbone, it’s much easier. I would say that on the average, I’d rate my PTE (phone talking enjoyment) at about a 6.

Salad
Name a charitable organization to which you have donated (or would like to).

Most recently, I donated to Heifer International with the help of all of YOU.

Main Course
What is a food you like so much you could eat it every single day for a month?

Cheeseburgers. That’s why this whole “no red meat until Memorial Day” sucks so much. I like pizza. And Chipotle too.

Dessert
Have you or anyone in your family had the flu this year?

Alli had it for about a week and I almost got it but my immune system eats flu viruses the same way that I eat Chipotle.

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Just remember, tomorrow is Burrito Day - the day in which you get to buy a burrito AND donate to a great charity at the same time.

Chipotle will be donating the proceeds in Kansas City tomorrow up to $10,000 to benefit Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics.

So go have an oversized burrito for the kids.

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If you can’t read the image, it basically says that if you buy a burrito, tacos, salad or bowl at a Chipotle in Kansas City, Chipotle (the King of Burritos) will donate the proceeds up to $10,000 to Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics.

So there’s a good reason to have a burrito this Saturday…

Do it for the kids.

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I’ve written before about my struggles with my weight and stuff I’ve tried to do to take action. There are plenty of reasons why I’ve failed miserably at this task on numerous occasions:

• I get busy with other things and “don’t have time” to work out - I’m sick of that excuse for myself.
• I can’t find a program that works for me - Truth is, I can’t work on a program long enough to MAKE it work for me.
• My incessant Chipotle craving - Let’s face it…I don’t see this one ending anytime soon. I’ll have to just work harder I guess.
• I like to sleep in, thus cutting down on the time it takes to prepare healthy meals - I guess I need to get up earlier then.
• I can’t seem to find the motivation - Living longer should be motivation enough.

I could go on, but that’s not the point. The point is that last week, I started back on the Power 90 program, a Beach Body, Inc., program that we bought a long time ago that promised to re-shape your body in 90 days. Considering that our departure date for Italy is about 90 days away, I finally found some motivation. And with the pending nuptials of my little brother and his beautiful fiancee (likely on some island), I need to get control of my weight…and FAST.

I’ve worked out every weekday for the last two weeks, doing the Sweat! cardio tape on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and doing the Sculpt! lifting tape on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I haven’t yet worked out on a Saturday, but the plan is to either go to the gym or just figure out something active to do on the weekend, then rest on Sundays.

So far, so good. I’ve lost 3 pounds, but I’m still a really long way from my goal weight. I don’t like being this heavy and I don’t like my clothes not fitting. I’ve been better with my eating habits, but I still need to work on portion control, and if I’m going to have Chipotle, I need to steer clear of the guacamole (so good!) and any other extras like chips that would just add on more calories to my already scale-tipping burrito bol. If you want to find out what your burrito, check out this awesome Chipotle fan site. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Anyway, wish me luck. I’m going to need it to keep on my path to healthier living.

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My last day at Perceptive Software was November 10. I start my new job on November 27. I think my new employer would have liked for me to start on November 13, but I really needed this time off to decompress and prepare myself for my upcoming new position.

I’m thrilled to be starting this new job. I can’t wait to get in there, but for the last 2 weeks, I’ve been really enjoying not working.

Since Alli works for herself, she has been able to schedule herself available as well. We’ve had such a blast just hanging out the two of us in the house, getting Starbucks and muffins from our Price Chopper and so many other memories that I have to list some of them here:

• Starbucks and muffins from Price Chopper every day
• Chipotle almost every day
• Our annual Shopping Day
• Our Chiefs Excursion
• Alli punching Clay Aiken at Sam’s
• Seeing Casino Royale and Stranger than Fiction in a span of less than 24 hours
• Our Netflix trial and seeing Roman Holiday for the first time
• Watching Today, Regis & Kelly, The View, and The Megan Mullaly show. Seriously.
• Talking ourselves out of spending $3,000 at Nebraska Furniture Mart
• Seeing Tim Gunn and Angela Keslar from Season 3 of Project Runway at the Leawood, KS Macy’s
• Meeting little Stella Anne less than 24 hours after she was born…you guys make good-looking kids, K&S
• Naps
• Interviewing a new member of my new team
• Snuggling with the dog
• Spending Thanksgiving (and Ashley and Tom’s birthdays) with Alli’s family
• Late night text-messaging with Jake
• SUGAR COOKIES
• The onset of Christmas music, including our newest Christmas CD, Wintersong
• Finishing 2 books (Review of Fletch Reflected coming soon)
• The Chiefs beating Denver on Thanksgiving
• Staying up late by myself to watch the KU-Florida game go into overtime and have KU win
• Returning home
• Relaxing
• Spending 2 weeks with my best friend

Some of that might mean nothing to you readers, but it has meant the world to me. I’ll try to be a more prolific poster, but with the new job starting, we’ll see.

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Vegas baby. Vegas.

So we surprised my buddy Jason for his 30th birthday with a trip to Vegas. 10 of us piled into two rooms for the weekend at Harrahs. He was unbelievably surprised…it was so much fun.

Alli’s post pretty much sums it up. Great trip. Awesome surprise. Well done, Brooke.

I’ve experienced such amazingly bad luck in a trip to a casino. I played poker with Jason one night and I’ll tell you what…I didn’t get but maybe 2 hands that I could play. When I finally went all-in, I had K-J, which was by far my best hand of the night. Guy called me with A-J and his A won. That’s weak.

I would win some money at the nickel slots (I think I won about 50 bucks…not bad for nickels!), but I got worked over playing Let it Ride.

One of the highlights to the trip (besides the trip itself) was getting to go see The Beatles’ themed Cirque de Soleil show at the Mirage, LOVE.

It was so unique and brilliant and it featured such incredible music and told a great story. Totally worth the money to go. We all really enjoyed seeing it. My dad will absolutely love it when he finally gets to see it.

Other funny highlights of the trip:

• Stalking Coach K in the high-limit slots at Harrah’s
• Watching Stowell go on perhaps the best blackjack run I’ve ever seen
• Brooke getting hooked on high-limit slots
• Brooke being “too tired to eat” on Sunday morning
• Taking naps at the pool on the first day because our room wasn’t ready (in our normal clothes)
• My 7-team parlay that would have paid me $1000 if I wouldn’t have missed 4 of the games (stupid KU, Penn State, Saints and Chiefs!)
• The random girls from Chicago that our girls met in the bathroom
• Seeing Kevin Richardson from the Backstreet Boys at Caesars
• Seeing Old Downtown Vegas for the first time (no, seriously, we can walk there…really, Jason?)
• Seeing why no one goes to Old Downtown (what a hole!)
• The free ceiling show in Old Downtown
• “Who is that guy? Is he famous?”
  “He must be, he’s driving a Bentley!”
• “Jason, thanks for last night…signed, Vegas Showgirl at Harrah’s” funniest picture
• High fives all around to the casino
• Almost getting kicked out of Chipotle thanks to Brooke
• Watching the Bellagio fountains…seriously never gets old…so incredible
• Not winning a single sports bet that I made (out of 4)
• …so many more

Great trip all around. Fun stuff. When’s the next one?

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OK, so I realize it has been a while since I have done any book reviews. I’m still trying to power through Holy Blood, Holy Grail…it ain’t easy reading. So in lieu of my latest book review, I am here to give you my special advance review of a book that was made into a movie, The Devil Wears Prada.

When Alli and I went to see The Break-Up on Sunday, she grabbed an invite to this advance screening of the movie. From what I gathered, they were looking to see how it would test with a similar audience because there were other attendees at the movie who came from some other theaters who had also seen The Break-Up.

Alli and I have been to our share of screenings, but we rarely ever get to attend advance screenings where we get to give feedback on the movie. This was one such occasion…some very official looking guy (maybe a director or producer) introduced the movie to us and told us we were the first audience to see the movie. I felt like a Hollywood insider in Kansas City…it was pretty cool.

Once the movie finally started (we had to be at the theater an hour early to ensure a seat…we brought in our own dinner…CHIPOTLE BABY!), it went quickly. The movie lasted about an hour and fifty minutes and just about all of it was really entertaining. In fact, it was so entertaining that I’m still thinking of it the next day. A day of space actually usually helps me to get a better perspective on movies. I absolutely love the experience of the movies so much that it is usually better for me to review a flick the day after to let that movie high wear off a bit.

There really wasn’t any wearing off on me for this movie (unlike X-Men, which got worse the further I got from it)…I thought this was terrific. From the people I have talked to that have read the book, it was built to transfer to film well. The story is interesting and the characters come alive on the screen. What is difficult to tell is whether that is a function of Lauren Weisberger’s original story and characters or the absolutely stellar acting of nearly the entire cast.

Meryl Streep leads this ensemble and she REALLY leads it. She elevates the level of acting of just about everyone around her in the movie (save Simon Baker, who is absolutely terrible). Rumor has it that Anne Hathaway was brought to tears by how good Meryl’s acting was in one of the many scenes that they shot together. I can understand how (not that I was brought to tears…it’s just that she is so ON that you can’t help but just marvel at her).

In addition, it was nice to see my boy Vinnie Chase in a movie…oh wait, that was Adrian Grenier, the actor who plays Vinnie Chase on Entourage (starting Sunday baby!!!). Grenier basically tweaks his Entourage character just slightly to play Nate, Andy’s boyfriend. He does a good job, but I was more pleased for him to just have some work, considering his last role in a movie that was this big was playing Melissa Joan Hart’s love interest in Drive Me Crazy (yes, the movie that featured the Britney Spears song).

For those of you who think this is a “chick flick”, I would say this: in some ways, it is. I can’t deny that the movie is about fashion and the two main characters are very strong women. But that being said, I would not classify this as a chick flick, just as I wouldn’t classify The Break-Up as a romantic comedy. This is a really different movie that is more about self-discovery and growth than it is about fashion. And not in a cheesy way. It still manages to be funny too, which - considering all the other things that I think it accomplished - is pretty impressive.

So here’s my recommendation:

Ladies…you’ll like this movie. It is very funny and smart and showcases the talent of two terrific women - one of them a Hollywood legend, and the other, most recently best known for making out in a backseat with Jake “I wish I knew how to quit you” Gyllenhaal.

Fellas…I know this is a tougher sell. I have been to a lot of “chick flicks” in my day and I’ve seen bad ones and good ones alike. This is one of the least “chick flick” feeling movies that I’ve seen in quite a while out of that genre. I imagine that your lady will want to see this movie (and after reading this review, why wouldn’t she?). I suggest that you go with her on this one. It’s a good flick and I think you’ll be surprised like I was.

It will be in theaters on June 30.

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The other night, Alli and I went to Chipotle with my mom. After we were done (and despite the fact that I am trying to lose weight), my mom offered us some baked goods that she had in her car. In the selection of pastries she had was an Almond Poppyseed muffin from Hen House.

Hen House gets their muffins delivered to them fresh everyday from some local vendor whose name escapes me right now. It’s unfortunate that the name escapes me because these muffins could just about solve the world’s energy crisis. If you could harness the awesomeness of these muffins…great things could happen.

If I could, I’d have an almond poppyseed muffin every day for breakfast. I don’t think I’d ever get sick of them.

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