I’m trying to be subtle. What do you think? Do you think I can get any charitable donations for the MS ride?

My version of subtlety to promote the MS Bike Tour

Today I signed up, and I went to my first workout at Gold’s Gym tonight. It’s official — I’m getting in shape this year. I have four months to get ready. I also set up my personal page with the MS Society. Check it out.

I'm serious about getting in shape

My parents came over Sunday evening to visit us and the kids. My wife made this pretty cool looking tiger-themed birthday cake, as my Dad just celebrated his 69th birthday last week. I have no idea how my wife has the time, patience, or energy to make a themed cake. I’m a man — I’d always take the easy way out and just buy a Carvel cake. I’m lucky to have a versatile wife.

A tiger-themed cake

Grandparents & grandkids

Today was our church’s annual International Sunday. Folks dress up in tradional or homeland dress, and bring in foods from their native lands. In the past few years, I haven’t seen too many people come dressed to impress. I myself dressed in traditional Indian business casual, which was a dress shirt and pants. A large number of people brought in appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Unfortunately, I was too busy taking photos for the church website, so I never got a chance to eat anything before the food was gone.

After church, I drove the kids to our local KFC to celebrate International Sunday with a two-piece individual meal. Sad, I say. Just sad. At least fried chicken never disappoints.

International Sunday

I’ve participated twice now in the Multiple Sclerosis Society – NJ Metro Chapter’s “Coast the Coast” bike tours down the Jersey shore. It’s a great event, you help raise funds for charity, and you feel good about yourself. Last year was the first time I worked with a team (Team CentraState, associated with the hospital and gym) to raise mone collectively. That was a particularly nice experience, since I made new friends of sorts. I would use the word “camaraderie.”

This year, I figured why not, let’s do it again. However, I need to get in shape.

1. I hate being this overweight.
2. It’s harder to pull all my extra weight on the road.
3. Did I mention I hate being this overweight?

I’ve decided to do this weight-loss thing for real. The office campus gym is nice, but I never get to go. No late hours, I never get to the office early enough, and no weekend hours. And no cycling classes. Time for a real gym, which is when I used to lose weight, back when I was a member of my local NYSC. I looked at two gyms — CentraState Wellness (where the cycling team is affiliate and are members) and Gold’s Gym (which is cheaper and closer to my house.) If I join a real gym, pay actual money, regularly attend spin classes, and have a big cycling event to get in shape for, I believe these are all excellent motivators to help me lose weight. Long term, I want to be fit, and I’m afraid of contracting some terrible disease like diabetes if I don’t take care of myself.

Today, Team CentraState bike tour members were participating in a free spin class at CentraState itself. Instead of being lazy and chilling out at home on a Saturday morning,  I drove over there, and got in with a free pass. This was my first spin class, and it’s certainly exhausting. My rear still aches, but I suppose it’ll get better.

Afterwards, I took a tour of the CentraState facilities itself. While it’s very nice, it’s also very expensive, and not very convenien for me geographically. Part of the appeal of any gym is its accessibility. I’m checking out Gold’s Gym tomorrow. I like the idea of being at CentraState, but 25 mins to get to the gym for a workout? Oye ve.

By the way, after working out, I went to check out the health fair they had going on in the lobby. The MS Society had a registration table, so I registered…. for the 85 mile tour! I planned initially to do just the 50 again (3rd time in a row), but one of my friends on the team is apparently doing the 85 mile ride from Monmouth University to Tuckertown. I’m apprehensive, but honestly, I don’t want her to show me up. If she’s brave enough for an 85 mile Bataan death ride, then so am I. All the more reason to start getting in shape now.

Num’s friend and coworker Mara came over to our place to celebrate her birthday. Nums made her (and us) porkshops, roasted asparagus, and potatoes with onions. Dessert was a decorated arrangement of delicious cupcakes. I had to clean up the kitchen afterwards, but it’s a small price to pay for eating like a king.

Birthday cupcakes

When the new carpet was installed, we had to move everything out of the living room. Now that the carpet is installed, we’re figuring out how stuff should be arranged and how to best use the space. I think we’ve finally found a place for Joshua.

Organizing Joshua

It’s February, the month of cold weather, Valentine’s Day, my wife’s birthday, and now with new carpet. Our house is 40 years old, and I have no idea how old the living room carpet is. It’s in somewhat decent shape, but certainly looking its age. Beaten down, the padding no longer cushiony, and old stains that I can’t remove. We figured that we would should at least try to get some quotes on carpeting, laminates, or hardwood flooring for the living room and/or hallway. If we get some quotes now, we can either get it now or adequately plan for the future expense.

For years, I’ve seen Empire Carpet commercials on television, and it sounds good. Still, you never know. I called them in for an appt on a rainy Saturday morning. I thought we’ll get a few quotes, and see where the chips lay. After we reviewed samples of different types, we settled on specific carpet and laminate choices. Fearing the sticker shock, I was unpleasantly surprised for the actual sticker shock for carpeting the living room.

I was ready to send this guy packing, as that was way out of the budget. I’ve never purchased carpet, but I wasn’t going to spend that kind of money either. Our salesmen then stated he “mistakenly” quoted living and hallway, and “re-quoted” it $700 cheaper for carpeting just the living room. Better, but still way to much. Again, we said okay, but we’ll think about it.

Oddly enough, the Empire Today salesman started negotiating, and called his manager…. supposedly. They offered that if they could find a carpet style and color in their warehouse that we liked, they could offer a lower price. They “found” the carpet and color for 50% less than the original quote, and we filled out the contract. The final price was what we expected in our heads. The installation was scheduled for a few days later on Wednesday.

Needless to say, I was a bit weirded out. How did we drop more than 50% from the first quote? Was the first quote a sucker price? I went online that night, and there were plenty of people complaining about Empire Carpet — specifically the sales tactics and the quality of carpet. Understandably, I was very apprehensive at this point. We had time to cancel if necessary. We dropped by a local carpet and flooring store to check out pricing and materials, but they were significantly more expensive per foot. Yikes. What to do? Apprehensive, I spoke to a friend who had used Empire to carpet her condo, and she has been pretty happy, so we said what the hell, why not.

Wednesday morning, my wife and I moved the television and the aquarium. I took some time in the morning to finish moving breakables and other items from the living room. The carpet installers came around 11am, and took about three hours to remove the old carpet, install the new pad and carpet, and help me lay the home theater surround sound speaker wires under the new carpet. They were decent, but sadly, they took my Stanley tape measure. The photos are all below. The carpet is actually a slightly darker brown than what we had previously, so the pictures below may be deceiving. It’s not pink.

After they left in the afternoon, I took a painting we’ve had sitting on our fireplace for years, to get a hanging wire installed on the back of it at an art & framing store in town. Doing my best without a tape measure, I centered it and hung up the painting on the back wall. Not bad, and the colors look nice against the wall.

What’s the verdict on the still-in-progress living room? Better! I don’t think visitors will notice the difference between the old and new carpet, but we certainly do. It’s plush and clean!

I like hanging out with friends. Is that rocket science? Last night, a bunch of us met up in the Rahway/Lindon area for dinner at an Applebee’s to celebrate recent birthdays. Is it me, or is there a lot of junk on the walls?

Dinner @ Applebee's

What a pleasant surprise.  I put Ultimate Avengers in our Netflix queue earlier this week, and received both Ultimate Avengers: The Movie and Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Black Panther on the same Blu-ray disc. A pleasant surprise, indeed. Since both movies were relatively short, Josh and I watched both this evening. These are both direct-to-DVD releases from 2006 with origination storylines for the formation of the Marvel Avengers team. While they were released separately, I would treat both movies as one film.  They go together, the “sequel” directly follows the first film, and the actual alien invasion from the first film is not resolved until the sequel.
 

Ultimate Avengers: The Movie (2006)

Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther (2006)

The films were okay for direct-to-DVD, as the action and voice acting were pretty decent. There was a lot more arguing and dissension within the team. I suppose this bickering was more true to the original comics, but it was a little unexpected.