I say this with the greatest sincerity, I love you Hawaii. We had such a marvelous time that I wanted to share some of the great beauty from your islands with others, so I put together this little slideshow to help tell a small part of our story… I hope you like it.

So Kristie and I are finally getting serious about the weight loss – I am sure we will lose plenty of weight before the wedding in 3 weeks… Oy ve, the self defeatist bit of me keeps coming out on this one. I have thought of myself as fat (I mean big boned) for so long now, it is hard to imagine myself at a healthy, happy weight again. The last time I was even close to my ideal weight of 215 (which was a pretty fatty 222) was after I had Montezuma’s Revenge down in Costa Rica in July of 2004.

It has mostly been because of the fact that I get the munchies at night, particularly after drinking.  I have eaten some crazy stuff in my day – cheese and ketchup with whatever meat is left over in the fridge for instance.  So just cutting out that will help a lot.  Stopping drinking helps me lost quite a bit just off the top too…

Now though, I have started working with a new coach – a really darn good one too.  Spirtiually aware, but grounded and pragmatic rather than hokey.  Will speak more about Stacey over time, but for now, want to get back to the weight loss…

The photo here is of my and my mom the year before she died. I was in the midst of Guru Communications, the first year I wore a goatee to try to look a bit older and get more respect for my young 26 years of age in charge of a 35 person company.  I was skinnier then because I was broke – mom would give me $5-10 to eat on and get gas for the day – I was living at home at that point, just prior to moving into the sweet SoBe Mansion (not quite, but it felt like it).  Shortly after this I started gaining weight and never went below 200 since.  I felt awesome though – high energy and generally pretty happy, but I never felt that I was good looking – self esteem issues – some of which I still struggle with I guess, which is partly to blame for the weight issue today, but only partly.

Now, however, I am much more comfortable in my own skin and confident in my talents and abilities, though I am completely embarrassed when people think I look like Roger Moore, which is a good motivating factor in itself.  Back then I could never have done the speaking I am doing today – would have been shaking as if I was having a seizure of some sort.   I still have some difficulty even seeing me at 215 pounds again, let alone the 195 I would really like to hit by this time next year, but if I do, maybe I will do that talk show.  I can do it, I just need the support of friends and loved ones – I need to keep hitting the gym everyday, no matter what else is going on and I need to eat the sorts of foods I know I should be eating but don’t.  Of course, emotionally and mentally, it is a lot more complicated, especially lately, but it is totally within my power.

If you can believe, you can achieve…

I scanned in a bunch of photos of me from over the years, in some of which I actually am pretty good looking. Check out the football one in particular – was so stoked that made it into the yearbook

PS – yes I have had a problem with big hair over the years – pretty damn funny in retrospect

I have been using my Treo 650 for a long time now, and generally have a love/hate relationship with it.  In working with MobiTV over the past couple of months, I have really been seeing some amazing phones that put great video in your hand, but have been holding off on buying one to wait for the iPhone.  Looks like I need to wait around 6 more months for this, but I need to get a better phone in the meantime, so if you have a good suggestion for what we should do while waiting for the FCC to approve the iPhone, please let me know.

I wish this could have been better quality photo, but we had to send back the Cannon Rebel XT because the repairs they did under warranty for an autofocus problem rendered the camera pretty useless.  So sorry about that – I had intended to use this series of blog posts to highlight a beautiful picture.  Instead, I highlight a beautiful piece of technology (you should have seen the technolust dripping off of everyone’s wide smiles).  Check out the rest of the photos I took of the iPhone, Steve Wozniak and the AppleTV at Flickr…

I can’t believe how long it has been since we were in Jamaica.  On November 23, 2005 we were standing on the beach in Negril, looking at this beautiful sunset. As it turns out, this was my last night of freedom before getting engaged to Miss Wells. The colors here were just stunning and well captured by our little camera, so the sunset can speak for itself.

What I need to speak to is the little place we were taking these photos from, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville in Negirl.  Like most of the overly touristy places, it was geared a bit too much towards the pedestrian sensibilities that goes along with loving TGI Fridays way too much and a little craziness that you get in the mornings  if you have a morning “Zoo” radio show in your market.

But as with all drinking frozen drinks while listenting to reggae and carribbean music, we had fun nonetheless. The Margaritas were awesome (go for the good stuff, avoid the shelf tequilla – Patron is my favorite).  Looking at this photo for the past 15 minutes while writing this is really helping me reconnect with the beach mentality – it feels good! Which reminds me, we heard a new Jimmy Buffet song on Internet radio the other day, I need to go check out his latest album in iTunes…

Wow – am I really posting 4 times in one week on the same meme? Shows what a little perseverence and will power can do – now I only need to do the same sort of mental and emotional gymnastics in regards to my diet and exercise regimen and things will really start picking up. Which is kind of the subject of my Pic o’ DaDay #4 – FoodPorn!

Ok, it is not exactly food porn in the traditional sense, but it was quite a special meal.  This was the fist Christmas dinner I ever really had a chance to cook for Kristie and me (2006) – it was also the first time I ever cooked a Turkey, which actually came out quite good, though the top of the bird got a little bit dry due to the 30 minutes of extra cooking time for high elevation (Lake Tahoe).  The gravy it made was amazing, and the Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing was wonderful (but you need to get creative with the broth and the ingredients – finally a recipe secret I have that you don’t!).  It went really well with the Duckhorn Sauv Blanc, but would have gone better with the ZD Chardonnay if I did not forget it in the freezer for a quick chill that ruined it – DOH!
In the end though, the meal was good, but the company was better – my first Christmas alone with my honey pie.  Sorry future-mom-to-be for missing your holiday gathering this year, if you decide to forgive us, I am looking forward to another Wells’ family Christmas on the Oregon coast next year…

The sad thing, this is one of the worst tasting martini’s I ever had. You know how sometimes when you order a martini, the bartender has never had one and they use too much vermouth? Well this was not one of those times, it was worse. This was a situation where the Bar (in this case Bar of America in Truckee) tried to pass off the cheap vodka as a Belvedeere and it just tasted awful. I will never order another martini from them (and rarely go back there since the bartenders are typically so rude).

Fortuantely, it did provide a great photo, the solitary olive on a stick, with vodka legs slowly falling down the side of the glass and glistening perfectly. For a closer look, check out the Martini Glistening on Flickr…

I captured a few really great shots of both Ele and Ana this day with some good light on our back deck – just playing around really. This one was not even seen through the viewfinder – I just held it down in front of Ana’s face and snapped a few.  I through in a little bit of edge blur with iPhoto and voila – a great portrait of Ana that really shows off the beautfiul Tortie markings that made her and her sister the cute ones to save from the shelter in Alexandria, VA.

In making some choices about the media I produce over the last few weeks, I realized how much joy I get from capturing good photos – and how few of the ones I think are good get any attention.  So I am going to work hard to do at least 200 Pic o’ DaDay’s for 2007 – where I can showcase some photos I have taken and a short story behind them. So here we go…

I took this shot on Christmas Day 2006, from the North Shore of Lake Tahoe.  Kristie wanted to take a walk on the beach, which was still partially covered with snow.  The angle was just right and the BLUE was breath taking.  While I did not get a picture of them, there was a Winnebago from Canada in the parking lot just to my right – the smell of freshly cooked sausages was really strong (and yummy).  For a few more of Lake Tahoe this day, click on the photo or just click here…