I was folding laundry, and I thought I’d watch Hot Tub Time Machine simultaneously, to help pass the time. I watched Hot Tub Time Machine, a 2010 gross-out comedy starring John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, and Clark Duke. The premise is simple — these four friends accidentally time travel to 1986 via a hot tub. This isn’t a sci-fi / comedy where they must avoid interacting with their younger selves, or affecting the space-time continuum, or adversely affecting the timeline, or needing to repair it. It’s just a dumb movie where they magically go back in time, and they do dumb things.

So, it’s not a good sci-fi movie. Is it a good comedy? Sadly, no. I like a good gross-out comedy if it is funny, and the characters are interesting or endearing. Not everyone may like how crass The Hangover was, but the characters grew on you. Since you like the characters, you like the movie. Unfortunately, I found the characters all rather annoying and somewhat unlikeable. Clark Duke was okay, but he wasn’t all that.

So, to summarize, it wasn’t a good sci-fi movie. It wasn’t a  good comedy. The plot was dumb. The characters were unlikeable. Yup, I would actually discourage people from watching this film. That doesn’t happen very often, but I feel comfortable doing that.

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

It’s been a few weeks since we purchased Megamind on Blu-ray and DVD, but we haven’t had much time to sit down and watch it. This past Friday night was the perfect opportunity to sit down together and watch. Nums and Josh had already seen this last November, so this was primarily for Lily and me. The blu-ray is a nice disc — 1080p, and Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (though I prefer DTS-HD MA over Dolby TrueHD), but there weren’t many extra features. A recent review of the disc listed some problems with the video transfer, but I didn’t notice. The movie looked very nice, and sounded good too.

If you have been unable to discern what the plot of Megamind is, he’s a supervillain that fights a constant, never-ending, battle against Metro Man for the goal of taking over Metro City. Plot after plot, he fails, until one day he seemingly succeeds. Metro Man is no more, and now the super villain is forced to figure out what to do next. The film has a nice cast — Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, David Cross, Bradd Pitt, and Jonah Hill. The music was nothing to speak of, and the story itself wasn’t particularly moving. However, the jokes are good, and the story is engaging enough that it’s definitely worth a viewing, purely for the entertainment value.

Megamind (2010)

I'm a baby

I’ve always been fat. I was a regular-sized infant, but I can tell from the photos afterwards that I was one chubby kid growing up. I cite two reasons for this:

1. I was never much of a traditional active childhood. Apart from riding my BMX bike around the neighborhood, I didn’t play any sports. Yeah, I played with other kids in the neighborhood, but I didn’t play on any junior sports teams. I spent a lot of my childhood watching tv — a very sedentary lifestyle.

2. I ate a lot. My parents grew up in India, and came here in the early 1970′s. Their primary goals in raising us were to make sure we were educated, safe, and well-fed. It’s probably not even an immigrant thing — maybe it’s just an old-school parenting thing, but food sometimes substitutes as love. Making sure your kids are fed well will hopefully ensure that they have the energy and nutrients they need. However, for somebody like me with self-control issues and an sedentary lifestyle, this wasn’t the best recipe for success. Even up until recently, I ate 2nd and 3rd helpings at meals.

The 90′s – High School and College Days

I didn’t start working out until 1994-1995. I occasionally hit the RACC at University at Albany, and sometimes played racquetball with friends. However, I continued to overeat. 2nds at the dining hall, and then getting chinese food or pizza late at night. I didn’t balloon up, but I wasn’t thin. They call it the “Freshman 15″, no?

In the summer of 1995, I went to India on a family trip, and as usual, I lost weight. This normally happened, since I never ate much there. My girlfriend at the time and I had broken up before the trip, so by the time I came back to school for my sophomore year at University at Albany, I was single and looking to reinvent myself. I don’t think I ate much better, but I used to go running pretty late at the track. Eventually the weight came back.

During the course of 1996 – 1999, and two more relationships, my weight fluctuated. In 1997, I tried the Atkins diet, and I lost a good 20 lbs. I went off the diet, and I packed on the pounds. I had no exercise, no good eating habits, and I let myself go. I’ve never had a decent plan or strategy to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

In 1999, my senior year was wrapping up, my professional career would be starting in the Fall, and I needed to lose weight. I joined the NY Sports Club, and I enrolled in a program to have a trainer monitor my BMI (body mass index), create a meal plan, and monitor my fat butt. I did learn to eat better, and I went to the gym 2-3 times a week. I got fitter and stronger. This was one of the few periods in my life where I was actually living healthy.

The 00′s – The Working, Marriage, and Parenthood Years

By the end of 1999, I was single, living in Jersey City, working full-time, and travelling. I still maintained my NYSC membership, but I was going to the one in Hoboken. My weight slowly went up as I reverted to my usual bad habits. In 2002, I purchased my Fuji road bike, but I only tooled around with it for the next two summers.

In 2004, I was spending a lot of time on the bike on the weekends, half-day Fridays, and I went running at the nearby Glen Ridge High School track in the evenings on weeknights. At my best, I actually had dropped down to 171 by August 2004, and I was fairly impressed with myself. Unfortunately, that was the apex of my healthy lifestyle. In August 2004, I went on a two-week-long trip to India, and I gained 6 pounds. After that, life at work was busy, and I no longer had a gym membership. The pounds slowly accumulated. Once the kids arrived in 2005 and 2008, I was often too tired and lazy to go out and exercise. On the weekends, my beloved bicycle sat unused.

2011 – The Present Day

Fast forward to 2011. I’ve come to grips with my bad habits — lazyness and a lack of self-control when eating. I’ve used the fitness center at work for two years, but I undo the good workouts by overeating. It was a vicious cycle. It frustrates me to think of how much time I spent on treadmills and stationary bicycles, yoga, and produce no good results. Do you want examples? How about Feb 6 2009, Feb 7 2009, Feb 20 2009, Feb 23 2009, Feb 28 2009, Aug 8 2009, or Aug 14 2009, By the beginning of this year, I ballooned to 206 lbs. I don’t have cholesterol or blood pressure issues, nor do I suffer from any form of diabetes.

So what changed? What made me wake up and smell the french fries?

1. I’ve been fairly disgusted when I see my bloated figure in photos. I looked gargantuan. I took this one photo at BJ’s, and I was appalled to see that my head was so fat.
2. The fear of diabetes. The more I read about it, the more I was frightened that I could potentially destroy my pancreas, and wreck my body past the point of no return. How foolish does a person have to be, if he or she willingly walks a path that could break your own body? The thought that I could one day irrevocably break my body through bad habits hit me hard.

This is when I realized that I had to do better for myself. As the regular readers know, I joined Gold’s Gym in February, but I realized my diet hadn’t improved, In the past month, I’ve altered my diet, and I’m trying to force myself to be at the gym 3x each week. I’ve realized that I snack and overeat during the day, and I eat a lot of carbs. No wonder that I’ve gotten fat — I could exercise all I wanted, but with the amount of carbs and snacks and large portions, what good would it do?

I’m happy to report I’ve lost 6 lbs since starting this journey, and I’ve learned a little bit more about myself. I’ve learned that this will not be an overnight improvement, but it’s a long-term, lifelong change of lifestyle. I’ve also learned that eating healthier doesn’t have to hurt. Salad isn’t bad. Fruits and veggies are delicious. I don’t miss pizza, french fries, potato chips, or desserts. I’m still figuring out the right size portions of my meals, but I’m getting there slowly.

I’ve not delirious. I’m not being unrealistic. I’m very cognizant of the fact that I’ve been down this road before with middling results. A strong start, but it fizzles out in a month or two. Why is this different?

1. I don’t want to wreck my body. I don’t want to break it. I don’t want to die early. I want to be healthier. One day, I’ll reach a point of no return, and it’ll be too late.
2. The office gym was free for me, and I wasn’t motivated to get my money’s worth. With Gold’s Gym, I’m paying for it, so I want to get my money’s worth.
3. I’ve set short-term and long-term goals. I registered for the 85-mile ride on Sunday, May 22nd, and it’s imperative that I lose weight if I’m going to survive a ride of that distance. My objective is to get down to 185 by the end of May. I want to get down to 170 before the end of the year. I hope that’s reasonable.

I had a number of movies ahead of Iron Man 2 in the Netflix queue, but I was in the mood for some high-octane Iron Man action, so I bumped this up the list to #1. I never saw it in the theaters, as the mixed reviews scared me off. As soon as I hear a film has received so-so reviews, I get scared off , and take my $20 necessary for a movie ticket and run away. I’m happy to wait and watch most movies at home these days. In any case, I figured I’d bite the bullet, and find out how good or bad Iron Man 2 could be.

Long story, short? I was not impressed. The film picks up about six months after the first film, and it seems every country wants an armored suit, but no one can engineer one successfully. The U.S. in particular is adamant about getting the suit from Tony Stark, but he won’t give it up. Meanwhile, Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash character has a personal vendetta against the Stark family, so comes seeking revenge. In addition, Tony’s competitor Justin Hammer can’t seem to get ahead of Stark. There is a subplot where Tony is dying from palladium-poison, due to his ARC reactor.  There is also a subplot where apparently Tony suffers from daddy issues with his father Howard Stark. Oye!

Suffice it to say, there are few too many plot threads going on in this film, and it was a bit much. Granted, there is an all-star cast, but I thought it was too much. Not to nitpick, but I didn’t find any of the particular plotlines all that interesting. Not him dying. Not Whiplash. Not anything. Not even Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow in a catsuit. Also, if this is Iron Man 2, where is the suit? There are a total of three action set pieces, and each was too brief. The finale wasn’t bad at all, but it would have been nice to see some of that action spread around throughout the length and breadth of the film.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Lily's 3rd birthday party

Phew! April 2nd marks the end of the kids’ birthday parties for this year. We closed it out with Lily’s birthday party at Junglerrrific, and it was great party. I was happy that we didn’t have to do much except to show up with a cake, and then pay for the event. For the kids who showed up, I believe everyone had a great time. I published the photos last night.

I’ve already expressed my frustration with the lack of responses from people. My wife and I have sworn off any major parties for the daycare classmates next year, as it’s just not worth the aggravation. We spoke to other parents in the classroom, and they’ve experienced the same lack of involvement. My favorite anecdotes from this event were:

1. The three families who said they would attend, but were then no-shows. Thanks for nothing.
2. The family who brought a sibling without asking. You know, we’re paying by the child here.
3. The folks who showed up 5 mins before the main party ended, and then their children cried because playtime was over. Good job.
4. The parent who had never responded, then after my wife saw her at the supermarket the next day, said she left a note at school on Friday that her daughter couldn’t attend. Yeah, I checked, and there was no note, liar. Also, you couldn’t respond via the phone number or email address that was provided on the invite or the reminder? Really? Too tough for you?
5. The parent who called me Saturday morning, and asked me if the party was still on. I replied, “Uh, yes, the party is still on.” Of course, they were a no-show as well.

Next year, I just want to do a party for a small group of their friends, and leave it at that. Smaller, yet higher quality. We don’t want to host any more parties, then try to twist the arms of ungrateful people to convince them to attend. The parties are not for the parents. The parties are for the kids to get together and have fun.

It was a party for our monkey.