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2012-366 Day 156 – Volleyball Schedule

Sorry, used most of my break time today generating a schedule for our volleyball league. Making sure everyone faces everyone else and has fair court placement is a bit of a pain in the butt. As for the actual who plays who, I tried my hand at manually generating some combinations, but it quickly got overwhelming. Turning to the great Goo-gel, I found this page (http://www.crowsdarts.com/roundrobin/sched10.html) which got me the right combinations in a mostly fair home/away configuration, but gave no consideration to court assignments. I decided the fairest thing to do was to make sure that each team got at least one game on the first court, but I couldn’t check all the courts so it’s a bit random after that.

The online version will go up in the usual location, my web playground, mworland.com. mattworland.com is taken and I wanted something shorter, so a year or two ago I registered mworland.com and use it to house my web creations. The landing page is a bit out of date, as I’ve done schedules for both our volleyball and softball leagues for the past couple years there. I’ll put the link up when I’m done (probably tomorrow). I also find it amusing that my dad’s site and my own differ by one letter (his is mrworland.com).

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 172.5 miles
Fitocracy Level: 21 ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
June 4, 2012

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2012-366 Day 154 and 155 – Weekend Wrap Up VIII

Okay, so on Day 154 I rested. After a crazy couple of days with Jess being sick (spiking a 102 degree fever, she’s better now), wrapping up work for the week (they’re laying carpet on the weekends, so Friday afternoon is busy), and having many busy weekends coming up, I did nothing yesterday, and that includes blogging. I did watch the Kings game and generated one post on Facebook which I’m counting as my official output for yesterday, although I will not make a whole new post just to make you read one line.

Day 154: “Holy Cow! Go Kings!” – Posted immediately after watching Jeff Carter score in overtime and giving the Kings their second straight Stanley Cup final overtime victory.

Let’s get a Weekend Wrap Up in too, even though I’m up against it time wise.

Monday (5/28) – Memorial Day: Everything I said is still true, even though it’s not the official day of remembrance. I wish I could say even more, but nothing I can do would ever match the true depths of my gratefulness to all the heroes who sacrificed their all for my freedom or even those who just(?) put their lives on the line.

Tuesday (5/29) – Game Design: Games are fun. Me like games. Me looking forward to play more games.

Wednesday (5/30) – Movie Quote Day: Nobody’s put their score up yet. Give it a shot, I’m very curious to see how people do.

Thursday (5/31) – Fitness: Volleyball started today, but since it was an evaluation week (real games start next week), not much to update on. Glad to have that arrow back in my fitness quiver, I always have a lot of fun playing.

Friday (6/1) – Resolution Update: How is it already June! Amazing. Need to crack down and do some more work on my goals though.

Saturday (6/2) – Kings (Retroactive): I’m intentionally not posting more about the Kings until the playoffs are over, I’m just scared to change anything. You can check my Facebook feed for real time things like yesterday.

Like I said in the Fitness section above, today was the kick off of our Summer volleyball league, and we followed that up with the draft (which is unusual, we typically have it mid-week, but it seemed to work fairly well). Look forward to weekly updates (like soccer) starting next week, as well as a link to the league homepage (which I maintain and have to create this week after we get a schedule done).

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 172.5 miles
Fitocracy Level: 21 ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
June 3, 2012

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2012-366 Day 153 – Resolution Update

Whew, what a busy month. Have another one coming up too, I thought summer was supposed to be the slow season? Well, let’s see where we’re at, shall we?

1) One blog post (long or short) every day this year. – On track.

2) Lose 20 pounds. – Been yo-yoing between 229 and 233, but I haven’t really been focused on this. Almost to the half way mark of the year, so I really should start cracking down. – On track.

3) Run 600 miles. – Banked almost another 40 miles, but still behind, and still relying on the half marathons at the end of the year to help with the catch up. Training in the summer can be brutal, but, as I mentioned yesterday, joining the gym with the indoor track will help. Oh, and regarding the New York Marathon, we’ve all but decided that I’m waiting until 2013 to run it. – Behind. 172.5/600 = 28.75%

4) Complete 5th Gup Green belt test by end of year. – I have my Blue belt which is 8th gup. Now each successive belt is a countdown (7th Gup (Blue-Green), 6th Gup (Green), etc.), with the next two belts being on two month cycles before jumping to a four month cycle in the Greens. – On track. (Actual test maybe the first week of January with the new four month cycles.)

5) Complete first novel. – More good ideas, no physical progress. – Behind.

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 172.5 miles
Fitocracy Level: 21 ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
June 1, 2012

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2012-366 Day 152 – Fitness

So I did three fitness related things during my lunch break today: took a long walk, picked up my winnings from the campus fitness challenge, and enrolled in the campus gym for the summer. Now those of you keeping track may notice that I know have memberships in two gyms concurrently, we’ll get into why that is in a moment.

I think one of the keys to staying active is to have diversity in the things you do. The more different ways you have of staying active, the less likely you will become bored of them. For example, while I was participating in the campus fitness challenge, I was able to max my time everyday because I wasn’t always doing the same thing. I played soccer on Sundays, ran several days a week, played ultimate Frisbee twice a week, did karate a couple times a week, and then filled in walking when appropriate. I plan to follow a similar routine during the summer, except replace soccer with volleyball, and add gym workouts after karate (at the first gym) and running inside when necessary (at the campus gym, which has an indoor track as running on the treadmill has become uncomfortable after my neck and shoulder issues). Now, once I decide to be disciplined when eating out again, I should be in good shape.

Running the same routes over and over again can get boring for me, but by mixing things up, I can stay active and always have something exciting to look forward to. Since I paid up front, I now have a gym available to me at work and close to home for less than 25 dollars a month (a figure that will drop closer to 15 dollars a month once the semester starts and fee waiver kicks in), so I’m not going to complain. The only thing I’m really missing is camaraderie, and I can tell you from Ragnar that it makes hard things much easier. I think I may start picking some fun runs and seeing if anyone wants to do them with me, but we’ll wait until we’re past the wedding/baby season to think about that.

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 172.5 miles (+4 miles)
Fitocracy Level: 21 ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
May 31, 2012

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2012-366 Day 151 – Movie Quote Game

Are you ready for a challenge? For no reason whatsoever I decided to put a game within a game into the Secret Project (aka Bachelorette Quest) by attaching a movie quote to every activity and then having them play a game where they had to guess the movie and last woman standing won. Seeing as you’re playing the home version, you just get to play against yourself (answers will be in the first comment below). Be warned, however, that, while I will give you the activity involved, quotes were selected for their thematic appropriateness and not recognition factor. Best of luck, and post your score in the comments if you get a chance.

1. Activity: Picture by the pool
Quote: “Hills that is. Swimmin’ pools, movie stars . . .”

2. Activity: Charades
Quote: “I’m beginning to think women make the best spies.”

3. Activity: Dress the Bachelorette
Quote: “A watch doesn’t really go with this outfit Daddy.”

4. Activity: Baseball picture
Quote: “There’s no crying in baseball!”

5. Activity: Acrobatics
Quote: “The Jungle is JUMPIN’!”

6. Activity: Play a sport
Quote: “Coach, coach . . . can’t get mah helmet on coach!”

7. Activity: Cheerleading Picture
Quote: “Wait a minute. People cheering cheerleaders?”

8. Activity: Make the Bachelorette flinch
Quote: “It’s not a laser! It’s a little light that blinks!”

9. Activity: Perform a cheer
Quote: “I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT!”

10. Activity: Holding hands in a line
Quote: “All you have to do is get in line. Are you achin’? For some bacon?”

11. Activity: Tag
Quote: “Look, the tigers are just playing tag with the antelope . . . with their teeth.”

12. Activity: Run for time
Quote: “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure.”

13. Activity: Picture with a pizza
Quote: “Or else Pizza will send out for you!”

14. Activity: Drink a drink the fastest
Quote: “An army so big it shakes the ground, an army so vast it drinks the rivers dry.”

15. Activity: Eat a slice of dare pizza
Quote: “This channel reserved for emergency calls only . . . Do I sound like I’m ordering a pizza?”

16. Activity: Picture at a college
Quote: “Andy’s going to college. Can you believe it?”

17. Activity: Frisbee toss
Quote: “Well, yes, of course we’re going to throw poo at them.”

18. Activity: Give a speech
Quote: “He starts monologuing! He starts like this prepared speech about how *feeble* I am compared to him . . .”

19. Activity: Play in a playground
Quote: “Peter Pan’s gots kids?”

20. Activity: Compose a theme song
Quote: “Oh, he’s doing his own theme music? Big, dumb, and tone deaf. I am so glad I was unconscious for all of this.”

21. Activity: Picture with Claim Jumper’s Prospector
Quote: “What’s that? Jessie and Prospector are trapped in the old abandoned mine and Prospector just lit a stick of dynamite thinking it was a candle . . .”

22. Activity: Superhero pose picture
Quote: “Let’s put a smile on that face!”

23. Activity: Flying pose picture
Quote: “Whoa, kill the motor, dude. Let us see what Squirt does flying solo.”

24. Activity: Reenact a movie scene
Quote: “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

25. Activity: Picture with a giant cross
Quote: “Don’t cross the streams.”

26. Activity: Red Light/Green light game
Quote: “Here goes: I sped. I followed too closely. I ran a stop sign. I almost hit a Chevy. I sped some more. . . I changed lanes without signaling while running a red light and speeding!”

27. Activity: Take a picture with a maintenance man
Quote: “This is yet another example of the late neoclassical baroque period. And as I always say, if it’s not baroque, don’t fix it!”

28. Activity: Karate pose picture
Quote: “Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off.”

29. Activity: Stand on one leg the longest
Quote: “I know Kung Fu.”

30. Activity: Push ups!
Quote: “I don’t know karate, but I know kar-azy, and I will use it!”

31. Activity: Picture on stair case or escalator
Quote: “And I would wave. And he would climb up the tower and rescue me. But never in all the time . . . that I had this dream did the knight say to me, ‘Come on baby, I’ll put you up in a great condo.’”

32. Activity: Purse contents challenge
Quote: “Hand me my purse, will you darling? A girl can’t read that sort of thing without her lipstick.”

33. Activity: Purse contents challenge with strangers
Quote: “Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

It should probably be noted that the location for 34-36 shares a name with a Stephen King novel.
34. Activity: Picture with onion rings
Quote: “It was bad, Mama. They laughed at me.”

35. Activity: Arm wrestling tournament
Quote: “I must admit I didn’t think much of Andy first time I laid eyes on him; looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over.”

36. Activity: Onion ring stacking challenge
Quote: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

37. Activity: Picture with bowling ball
Quote: “How are they going to deliver a bowling alley here tonight?”

38. Activity: Draw a picture of the Bachelorette
Quote: “Jack, I want you to draw me like one of your French girls.” (DISCLAIMER: Do not draw anyone like one of his French girls.) – Yes, the disclaimer was in the game.

39. Activity: Bowling challenge
Quote: “Smokey, this is not ‘Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.”

40. Activity: Picture waiting for the bus
Quote: “Well, I was wondering . . . Why I’m so lucky. Why I should find you waiting for me to come along.”

41. Activity: Movie quote game (the one you’re doing now)
Quote: “I-I-I don’t remember opening my bag . . . Suddenly, I’m beginning not to trust my memory at all.”

42. Activity: Bicycles! (the ab workout, not the conveyance)
Quote: “The future’s all yours, you lousy bicycle.”

43. Activity: Picture with hay/straw/horses
Quote: “Does Aunt Ginny have a barn? We can hold the trial there. I can sew the costumes. Maybe his Uncle Goober can be the judge.”

44. Activity: A race!
Quote: “Ask any racer, any real racer. It doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile; winning’s winning.”

45. Activity: Make up questions for the Bachelorette
Quote: “Hey, this is not a test! This is rock and roll! Time to rock it from the Delta to the D.M.Z.!”

46. Activity: Picture on or next to a wall
Quote: “Maria, these walls were not meant to shut out problems. You have to face them. You have to live the life you were born to live.”

47. Activity: Guessing a number between 1 and 1000
Quote: “I do not mean to pry, but you don’t by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?”

48. Activity: Give out awards
Quote: “Now you men will only be risking your lives, whilst I will be risking an almost certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.”

Now you can probably see why they didn’t finish the whole quest. How’d you do? Check your answers below and post your score (out of 48).

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 168.5 miles
Fitocracy Level: 21 (51428 points, 6422 to next level) – ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
May 30, 2012

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2012-366 Day 150 – Game Design

So one of the things I asked to do for my birthday was have a game day where people could just come over and we could play some of the many games that we’ve stocked up over the years. While we got to a good random sampling (I sent people back to the game cabinet and told them I’d play whatever they brought back), it was the contributions of a good friend that really got my brain moving into gear. Since the last time I had seen my friend Frank (which, granted, had been too long) he had started his own game design studio (General Nonsense Games, Twitter: @GenNonsenseGame) and he brought some of his games to share. We had a lot of fun playing two of his titles (“Speed Poker” and the one with the “A” on the back of the cards, I don’t remember that one’s name, sorry), but what it really reminded me of was my love for game systems.

Instead of doodling in class (okay, I doodled too) I would spend my time designing card games. One of my favorite systems at the time was the Star Wars Collectible Card Game made by Decipher, it had an elegant mechanism which did not require you to keep score (the cards themselves were your life total, how you paid costs, and how you randomly determined outcomes). As a result, many of my early efforts were in that vein, where much of the rules overhead was already taken care of (none of these things ever saw the light of day, they were an exercise for me). One of the reasons that I own so many games is that I love to see all the different types and rules out there. By exposing myself to a wide variety of games, I seek to find what makes games fun and unique. Though I have yet to try designing any of my own (and probably won’t due to schedules), it does put me in a unique position to give feedback when I play or see other games. I’m actually working on another game related project with another friend of mine, Stephen, which is also allowing me to stretch those brain muscles.

The long and short of it is that I love to play games, whether they be card, board, or even sports. I love examining the rules and interactions, seeing where they come together (and, if I’m playing, what I can take advantage of).

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 168.5 miles
Fitocracy Level: 21 (51428 points, 6422 to next level) – ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
May 29, 2012

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2012-366 Day 149 – Memorial Day

There can never be enough thanks to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom, though they cannot hear it. Even further than that, however, is the thanks that is due to their family and friends who continually have to pay the price going on from their time of sacrifice. Excluding accidents and acts of terror, anyone who has sacrificed themselves in America’s military since the Civil War has done so on foreign soil away from their family and friends. The fact that there are people that are willing to put themselves in that position is amazing to me. I cannot express fully my gratitude and awe at all those who have served and made the sacrifice, as well as those who are currently doing so.

I can’t help but wonder what would have happened had I not injured my shoulder and had actually entered the Marine Corps Officer program that I applied to towards the end of my undergraduate career. If I had gone in when I was eligible, I would have completed my training right around the beginning of the second Iraq war. The entire path of my life would have been completely different.

It is always heartening to see all the tributes on Memorial Day, though I hope we can maintain that attitude year round. Hope you all had a great Memorial Day!

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 168.5 miles
Fitocracy Level: 20 (51182 points, 168 to next level) – ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
May 28, 2012

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2012-366 Day 148 – Weekend Wrap Up VII

Went to church this morning, then a nice Memorial Day BBQ and a relaxing evening with Jess (with a run thrown in for good measure). After having a great weekend so far, we get to top it off with a day off tomorrow, so life is good.

Monday (5/21) – Bachelorette Party (or Secret Project IV): Assuming you have read this post for me to update you on it, you’ve already had more than enough information on the project.

Tuesday (5/22) – Lakers: Okay, with the final four basketball teams that has been assembled, it’s a little sad that I’m rooting for either of the two Western Conference teams to win (seeing as the two Eastern teams are Boston – boo – and Miami – blech – I’m guessing you can see why). I’m actually okay with either Oklahoma City or San Antonio winning it, the young guns getting their first or the old guard closing out their last stand.

Wednesday (5/23) – Technology Upgrades: LOVING the new setup, although Sprint should really be paying me to try new phones as I keep selling other people on my phones. This one is no different, I’ve really enjoyed it so far, though I’m still customizing it.

Thursday (5/24) – Technology Burnout: Another nice thing about being me, technology burnout never lasts long . . .

Friday (5/25) – Originality: I enjoyed writing that post. Going to have to find some more abstract concepts to hold court on.

Saturday (5/26) – Birthday Party: Thanks Fern and Cathy for your comments, glad you guys had fun! I definitely had a blast. Sorry the cat tried to passively kill you Fern.

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 168.5 miles (+3.5 miles)
Fitocracy Level: 20 (51182 points, 168 to next level) – ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
May 27, 2012

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2012-366 Day 147 – Birthday Party

We’re taking full advantage of the Hawaiian time rule tonight, as we just wrapped up an awesome game night(day)/birthday party. Thanks to everyone who came and made it a great and special time! We’re halfway into a three day weekend (between Friday night to Monday) and I’ve already laughed so much it hurt at least half a dozen times. Time to rest up for the remainder of the weekend, I’m looking forward to it.

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 165 miles
Fitocracy Level: 20 (50812 points, 538 to next level) – ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
May 27, 2012

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2012-366 Day 146 – Originality

Well, the post I was originally going to write had to be shelved as it wasn’t going the way I hoped. Don’t worry, you’ll see it in the future after I get it to where I want it to be.

That’s actually probably a good thing, as I was kicking this idea around and a post today from one of my favorite authors, Gregg Hurwitz, brought back to the forefront of my mind. While his post has to do with the writing process (and, by extension, why this blog will never become a book, not that I had any illusions it would be), my thoughts were instead sparked by a tv show trailer I saw and some of the material in the oft hinted-at but not revealed novel I’m (occasionally) working on.

The upshot of the trailer is that the world undergoes some sort of massive event that causes a world-wide failure of technology. Now what happens and how it resolves hasn’t been revealed, and I’m sure that’s kind of the basis for the entire tv show, but the world it inhabits is similar to one(?!) of the worlds I’ve envisioned for my novel. When I first saw the trailer I thought that I needed to get a post up pretty quick explaining how I’d had this idea for a while and start a sort of paper trail so when people accused me of ripping off the show in the future I could (kind of) defend myself. As I started to think it through, however, the differences became more apparent, and it actually spawned a new piece of the support structure for the story I hadn’t considered before. So that part was inspired by the show, but it isn’t a direct copy . . . you know what, it goes back to my original realization . . . it’s not important what people think. Which is actually kind of my life motto, so I guess that ties everything up neatly for me, personally.

All that being said, it does pose the further question, one asked throughout time and one I am certain I will be absolutely no help in answering, “What is originality?” Since the dawn of man, ideas have built upon each other to the point where we now have a proliferation of items that contain thousands of different ideas all put together and working toward a common goal (think cars, computers, cell phones, etc.). In the 5000 or so years of recorded human history, when did the truly original ideas die out? With 7 billion people on the planet, is there such a thing as an original thought? Perhaps that is why fiction, whether written or in movie form, is so popular, as we have to go outside of our own experience to find any sort of originality. That’s probably what interests me about the novel project, creating a world and history that is original, a tapestry that is woven from ideas that merge into their own unique pattern.

Perhaps that is our modern definition of originality, taking the old ideas and combining them into something that is new and unique. A sort of combo-originality, if you will.

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 165 miles (+3 miles)
Fitocracy Level: 20 (50340 points, 1010 to next level) – ID: disciplev1

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By Matt
May 25, 2012

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