Lost Weight. If you found it you can keep it!

So back on January 6th, 2009 my work had a contest for those of us men wishing to lose weight. We all paid in $40, and whoever losses the biggest % of their weight takes home close to $1000. We had weigh ins every 2 weeks on Monday mornings, who ever had the biggest % lost that week would take home $20. For every pound gained from the previous week you had to pay in $2, and if you missed the weigh in you had to fork over $5. The final weigh in was on April 13th, 2009.

So I figured what the heck. I weighed in at 250.8 lbs! I always figured I was about 250 but seeing it on a scale made me look at it much differently, we never owned a scale so I never really knew. I set a goal of 215 lbs, which I figured I could get to. So I changed my eating habits, gone was the junk food and ice cream. I ate healthy snacks, smaller portion sizes, and watched my calorie intake. I started walking 6KM every lunch hour, between 200/400 sit ups, and between 100/200 push ups in the evening.

I got results, and here is the breakdown:


Start 6-Jan
250.8 lbs

19-Jan
243.8 lbs
7.0 lbs lost from previous week
2.8% lost from previous week

2-Feb
236.8
7.0 lbs lost from previous week
2.9% lost from previous week

16-Feb
227.8
9.0 lbs lost from previous week
3.8% lost from previous week

2-Mar
224.6
3.2 lbs lost from previous week
1.4% lost from previous week

16-Mar
218.0
6.6 lbs lost from previous week
2.9% lost from previous week

30-Mar
214.4
3.6 lbs lost from previous week
1.7% lost from previous week

Final 13-Apr
206.2
8.2 lbs lost from previous week
3.8% lost from previous week

Total Weight Lost - 44.6 lbs
Total % of Weight Lost - 17.8%


So I came in 4th place, but the weigh I see it (Punny) I paid $40 to lose close to 45 lbs! Which is cheaper than any weight loss program out there!

I have continued with my new healthy habits and I am now down to just 200 lbs! So I am 50 lbs lighter now and feel much better. I have had to buy new pants and shorts, the others were just hanging off of me. I was a 38 waist last year and now I can wear a size 34! Anyway, here is a picture.

Before (October 2008)



After (May 2009)


Big Difference! :)

Countdown is on and Updates!

Maryland Deathfest VII is fast approaching, and I am ever so excited to see this concert for the 3rd year in a row!



There is the Countdown!

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I just finished a book called Infected, written by Scott Sigler.



It was quite a good book, about an invasive species that uses humans as a host to grow out of. Some great humor in this book, along with lots of graphic violence, Scott is a very descriptive author. I will have to pick up the 2nd book in this series called Contagious.

Now I will have to start reading some of my Decibel Magazines that I got recently. I signed up for a 2 year subscription to a great Metal Magazine! After I read through some of those I shall tackle my next book, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Seems right up my alley in the way of 1984 type stuff. This one was written in 1931 and published in 1932, I am excited to finally read this. I picked up a used copy at a local bookstore for $5.00!



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I will have another update tomorrow with some news! :)

Update 2009

Ok, so it has been a long long time since I last posted. Big Changes, I have been busy!

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Maryland Deathfest 2008 was a blast, I met lots of new people and got to spend the weekend with Ron, Joost and Ewan, great guys! On Friday we went and saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. It was a blast, and we had quite an excellent time. We went to MDF that night and the next 2 days, I know I had a blast and experienced some of the best live performances ever. I saw so many of the bands I love and enjoy. The best thing was getting together with 24 other people and wearing the duster suits for Blood Duster. We moshed, and had a blast. I ended up at the front of the stage between 2 of the dudes from Hellnation and rocked the fuck out to Blood Duster for pretty much the whole set, it was the most fun and best band I have yet to see live, a dream come true pretty much!

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Central Illinois Metalfest 2008 was a great time. I flew into Pittsville (ha ha) and Ron picked me up at the Airport, we ate at a Thai restaurant that had the best food I have ever eaten! We chilled out that night, watching some live vids and listening to music. We woke up early the next morning and picked up the Gwar Car (GWR was the license plat which was very fitting for going to a metalfest). We drove straight from Pittsburgh to Urbana Illinois 8 hours of driving and listening to metal tunes. That night we went to the movies and saw Hellboy 2 the Golden Army which was hilarious. The next 3 days were filled with awesome metal. Seeing Devourment was a pleasure, Mortal Decay was a pleasant surprise, Massacre was a kick back to the old days, Origin were relentless, Brutal Truth was wicked, same with Suffocation, Incantation, and a whole slew of others. I ran threw a corn field in a mock version of "Signs" that we filmed which was hilarious fun. I hung out all weekend with and had dinner with Kam Lee (One of the founders of Death Metal), which was a very cool and unexpected experience! All in all a great gig, we drove back to Pittsburgh and then I flew out the next day. Fun times and it was great to see Ron again.

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Me and some friends started a band called Hate Division. You can check out 2 of our songs on our myspace by clicking the band name. We play a cross of grind and death metal, its pretty intense and has some groove to it. I am playing Bass again which is great, Howie is on Guitar, Shane on Drums, and Sean on Vocals. We jam 2 times a week and worked very hard recording our first EP which we have just released. I did all the artwork and layout for the CD and I am quite proud of it, here is what the cover looks like:

Cover Art

We have another 7 songs done, and working on the 8th. The goal is to have 10 songs done and recorded by the end of the summer so we can have a full length out. Hoping for some label interest, but I guess we will see what happens.

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I started a new job in October at Sobeys Head Office which I really enjoy. The atmosphere is much better, it interests me and I am constantly learning new things. The days go by very fast! I left the other job at a good time as the project I was working on has now dwindled away and is on the way out. Everything just kind of worked out the right way.

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I started doing album reviews for Archaic Magazine which is proving to be fun. Ron took over this website and asked me to lend a hand since I enjoy the grind so much. Early last year I helped update some of the images for the website as it changed over from Vampire Magazine to the new name. Finding the time to do this is a challenge at times, but I enjoy it. I haven't done reviews since probably 2004 when I was helping the Punk Canada/Canada Noise website. Hopefully I will be doing an Interview with Napalm Death, the only other interview I did was with Darkest Hour for the Brainfrost website.

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I have everything booked for this years Maryland Deathfest. Ron and I will be meeting up again and experience some classic Death Metal. Here is the website - Maryland Deathfest.

That's its for now, I will post some pics later on.

So I fly out tomorrow from Halifax and catch a connecting flight in Chicago to my final destination Baltimore, Maryland. I arrive in Baltimore around 11:30pm and I imagine that I will be pretty tired from the flights, so I will head to hotel for some rest. I will meet up with Ron, Joost and Iwan at the hotel. I will be spending the weekend with them. Friday we will probably talk a walk around the Inner Harbor and maybe go to the National Aquarium. Then its off to Club Sonar for Maryland Deathfest!!!! I am beyond excited for this, so much fun, so many great bands, and so much MERCH! HA HA.

I am very excited to see Grave, Blood Duster, Anaal Nathrakh, Squash Bowels, Phobia, Gadget, Ingrowing, Defeated Sanity, Gruesome Stuff Relish, and Afgrund. The rest of the lineup is great and there are only a few bands that I might not watch. But wow, I can't believe this is here already!!!

This year they are making an MDF DVD, so I probably will not be shooting as much video this year, maybe just a song or 2 from each band. They also have the street closed off outside the venue and will have food vendors, cotton candy, and free energy drink samples!

Me and 2 other guys (dr0ne, and entwinedwithsickness) from the MDF Forum came up with an idea to wear contamination suits during Blood Duster's set and mosh the fuck out of them.

We bought a case of 25 suits for about $45, so it was $15 each. We got some other people involved now, so far its 9 of us going to wear the suits and have a blast to Blood Duster. We even have voucher's made up so we know who is going to be involved, the voucher is hilarious, see below:


More info on this and plenty of laughs are available in the following links:

Where it all Started!
The Planning.
The Follow Through.
The Execution.

Thats it for now, I will update you all upon my return!

Back from Cuba and Heading to MDF

So we had our trip to Cuba and it was a great time. The weather was great and we met up with a nice couple from PEI named George and Michelle, who we became good friends with. The food was good and the resort was very nice, we made a trip to swim with the dolphins and that was a very good time. We went to a local market to buy some things, and spent the trip relaxing. All in all a great time, I look forward to going again! This was our first real vacation together, so it was very nice to spend quality time together and have fun just the 2 of us.

16 days until I head down to Baltimore for Maryland Deathfest! This is going to be a great time and I get to see my friend Ron (who I met there last year) and two of his friends from the Netherlands, Joost and Iwan. I leave on Thursday May 22nd and then the concert is on May 23rd, 24th, and 25th. I fly back home on the 26th.

It will be a quick trip but it will be a great time, with great music, and lots of fun. Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition have canceled their performance which is a bummer but I know the promoters will get a decent replacement. I am looking forward to seeing Blood Duster, Squash Bowels, Gadget, Defeated Sanity, Ingrowing, The Day Everything Became Nothing, Afgrund, and Gruesome Stuff Relish. The rest of the lineup is really good as well so there are only a few bands that I don't want to see.

Well, thats it for now. Cheers!

Cuba or Bust!

So we have all our plans organized and booked for our Vacation to Cuba! We leave on March 15th for the Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa in Holguin, Cuba. We saved a bit of money by booking through my Step Father who works for Air Canada. It will be a great time, and my Mom upgraded our Vacation to First Class as my Birthday gift so that's even better! I can't wait to relax in the sun for a week and enjoy some time with my wife.

On the weekend we went to Halifax so the kids could spend some of their money from Christmas. It was a quick trip but it was fun. I picked up a few CD's from one of the used CD stores and got some good deals. Best deal was a copy of Grave's album You'll Never See... / ...And Here I Die... Satisfied. I also got Inhume - Decomposing From Inside, Dead - V.I.P., Anaal Nathrakh - Eschaton. I traded some older CD's of stuff I no longer listened to get this so thats the good thing about used CD stores.

Nothing else new just counting down the days until Cuba! :)

Work, Vacation and Stuff

I got my vacation worked out so I have already booked 4 weeks off work and still have 3 more weeks to book off. My boss Matt is really good about giving me time off and is a really down to earth guy. I'm looking forward to March, me and the wife will hopefully be heading down south to Cuba to enjoy some relaxing and tropical weather.

I got all my plans for Maryland Deathfest 2008 solidified and things look pretty awesome for this concert. Last year was a blast and this yeah should be just as fun.

My buddy Ron (who I am going to MDF with) has just convinced me to go to Central Illinois Metalfest in July. So we're going to hash out the details of this trip soon, and this will be another great trip, awesome lineup this year and I will see Brutal Truth again!

I got the new Retaliation CD in the mail on Monday. The Cost of Redemption is the title and its a nice grind album, they demolish 28 tunes in 26 minutes. Great stuff!

I also bought the new Brain Drill album Apocalyptic Feasting. Its a really great album, very technical and brutal! I was a bit disappointed that only 4 of the songs were new, but still a kick ass disc.
I really dig the artwork by Par Olofsson, he does some great album covers!



My Dad is sending me his old computer, old to him new to me! So I'll have a better machine to work on and the kids can use this one for games and school projects etc. I also got my replacement CDs for the Mac Laptop and things are looking good with that and its working well.

Thats it for now.

Final Nasum Relase - Live Album "Doombringer"

I am very excited for the final release from Nasum which is slated to be released on March 4th, 2008. Titled "Doombringer" the album is the first live album from Nasum, and will mark the final release from the band.

If you don't already know Nasum is my favorite band, and I have followed them for quite some time. So the final release will be awesome, but also mark the end of an era. They made a huge impact on brining back grind music to its roots, and evolved throughout the release of all their albums. The progression of Nasum from Inhale/Exhale to Shift is amazing and not found with many bands.

The artwork looks nice and the track listing has some great songs!



1. Corrosion
2. Doombringer
3. Just Another Hog
4. Inhale/Exhale
5. Scoop
6. Bullshit
7. Relics
8. Löpandebandsprincipen
9. I Hate People
10. Masshypnosis
11. A Welcome Breeze Of Stinking Air
12. Fatal Search
13. This is...
14. The Masked Face
15. The Idiot Parade
16. Den Svarta Fanan

First post

So this is my first post. Don't know what to post about or what my blog will be about. Probably just about music, movies, stuff I like concerts etc.....

Not sure when my next post will be.

Later.