Men’s Interests

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below:

The man that brought us Breakfast of Champions, Cat’s Cradle and the classic Slaughterhouse Five is no longer with us. Kurt Vonnegut passed away Wednesday evening at the age of 84 from brain injuries incurred after a fall at his Manhatten home.

Vonnegut, who battled depression much of his life, was actually well know for the sense of humor in his work. In his words he would say anything to get a laugh, often in the worst situations.

Vonnegut, who had books banned for obscenity, battled censorship as a member of the ACLU.

He was a true humanist who said the villans in his books were never representative of individuals but of society, culture and history, which were all making a mess of the planet. He implored people in his lectures to be free thinking and heavily criticized the institutions that he thought were dehumanizing.

Though Kurt Vonnegut had taken leave from authoring novels, he remained on the literary scence and in the public eye later in life with his essays and articles, and actually scored a best seller in 2005 with “A Man Without a Country.”

A far cry from the cookie cutter fiction that has become popular today, Kurt Vonnegut probably never would have made it to Oprah’s must read list, but he is a representative of the writing world that will surely be missed by the true literary connoisseur.

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five, ACLU, Man without a Country, Breakfast of Champions

As long as men have been on a quest to attain the perfect body there have been countless questions as to how exactly to go about it.

Well wait no longer, I’m going to put an end to this debate right now. Which is better for attaining the best body, weight lifting or bodyweight exercises?

The answer - neither one is necessarily better than the other. Truth be told there is no one perfect way to develop the ultimate physique, that’s why you have so many proponents of both methods. In the development of your fitness regime you have consider a lot of different factors:

1. What are your exact goals, what type of shape are you in right now and what type of body do you want to achieve

2. How much money can you invest or are you willing to invest in equipment for your home or gym/health club memberships

3. How much time do you have to invest in your fitness program

4. Will you have a training partner at your disposal should one be necessary

Inevitably what you will find after considering these and other factors is that a mix of weight training and bodyweight exercises will help you achieve your fitness goals in the shortest time possible.

If your new to working out, you may want to stick entirely with simple calesthenics at the beginning until you develop sufficient strength and coordination to tackle a more complete workout program.

Exercises like push-ups, bodyweight squats, dips, handstands and pull-ups will greatly improve your strength, balance, coordination and endurance and once these exercises become “easy” to perform you can begin adding weighted movements to your routine to (1) build areas these exercises don’t completely develop - like bicep curls; or (2) to increase body mass, if that’s your goal, with barbell squats or deadlifts.

A lot of what it takes to attain your goals in fitness, as well as other areas of your life, lies in the doing not in the search for too good to be true shortcuts.

One thing I can not stress enough - always, always, always consult your doctor before beginning a new workout program - even the best workout program in the world will do nothing for you if you injure yourself during the first session and can’t continue.

If you’re looking for quick workouts you can perform when your strapped for time or unable to make it to the gym, keep coming back. I’m going to try and put up some 15 minute maintenance workouts every week or so to keep your blood pumping when the clock’s not on your side.

workout program, bodyweight exercise, free weight exercise, choosing the best workout

Peering outward from behind a mottled screen of vines and leaves, the Green Man does not speak or sleep; he waits. His meaning and his origins are largely lost to time — the Green Man wasn’t named till 1939. We know, however, that this type of enigmatic figure was the work of artists, anonymous craftsman whose unsigned work adorns the crevices and walls of medieval cathedrals. This year we will appropriate the Green Man and the primeval spell he casts on our imaginations for a modern purpose. Our theme concerns humanity’s relationship to nature. Do we, as conscious beings, exist outside of nature’s sway, or does its force impel us and inform the central root of who and what we are?

Tickets to this year’s Burning Man will be made available on January 17, 10AM PST at http://tickets.burningman.com. The theme is The Green Man.

According to Larry Harvey there were some problems with ticket purchases last year. People logged on before the tickets went on sale and the system crashed. He says they’ve addressed the problem and hopes for a more positive experience this year. He says:

I really don’t want to be too hard on anyone. When you are isolated and feel frustrated it is very easy to lose your temper. But isn’t it ironic that all of the sturm and drang about getting there first, about competing with thousands of other consumers, should arise among a group of people who are dedicated to a non-consumerist event that is devoted to cooperation and collaboration.

If our first allotment of $195 tickets sells out, a second gate will silently slide open, offering another 10,000 tickets for $225 apiece. Finally, when the last gate is automatically triggered, yet another 10,000 tickets will be available at $250.

During the wait for your place in line, if your neck gets tense, if you begin to pound the keyboard, please rest assured - you’re not alone nor need you be alone. There is a place that waits for you in Black Rock City.

Join Parents Magazine and Beliefnet in examining today’s spirituality and parenting by taking this survey.

Visit MAXIM’s 2006 Hometown Hottie Kerry in this video.

Allison Quets took off from North Carolina with her twins and got caught in Canada. Was this a divorce gone bad? No, an adoption gone bad. I feel for this biological mom. It’s alleged that Quets verbally revoked the relinquishment of her twins within twelve hours and in writing within forty-eight hours, yet she’s still fighting for them 17 months later.

After being a foster mom for several years, I know how easy it is to get attached to children, even when they aren’t yours. I know people can decide they are a “better” parent than another. We see that in divorces and child custody cases all the time. I believe unless there’s more to this story that we haven’t heard, as much as the adopting couple love those kids, they should have relinquished them to their mother as soon as she said she wanted them back.

Allison Quets, the American woman accused of kidnapping her biological children and bringing them to Canada broke her silence Saturday afternoon in an exclusive interview with Citizen reporter Andrew Thomson.

Mom speaks out on video HERE.

From the Sunday Ottawa Citizen:

Ms. Quets moved to Florida in 1985, taking a job near St. Petersburg with General Electric. She gave premature birth to Holly and Tyler in Orlando, where she was working for Lockheed-Martin. The twins had been conceived through in-vitro fertilization.

The pregnancy was nearly fatal, Ms. Quets said yesterday. She battled hyperemesis, a condition that causes excessive nausea, vomiting and malnourishment. It can lead to depression, ruptured organs, and even miscarriage.

“Every time I threw up blood I was afraid I was going to die,” she said. “I was not healthy.”

Ms. Quets also claims to have faced post-partum depression after giving birth and offering the twins for adoption. Since then, she’s poured her life savings of about $400,000 U.S. into the custody dispute with the Needhams, and used her academic background to study family law.

Ms. Quets, was found in Ottawa last month with 17-month-old twins Holly and Tyler. She’s accused of failing to return the twins to their adoptive parents in Durham, North Carolina, after a weekend visit.

She faces federal and state kidnapping charges in North Carolina and will be returned to the United States tomorrow.

Watch a home video of mom and twins HERE.

From Three parents for Canadian boy | WORLD | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz:

A five-year-old Canadian boy can have two mothers and a father, an Ontario court ruled this week in a landmark case that redefines the meaning of family and examines the rights of parents in same-sex relationships.

In a ruling released on Tuesday, the Ontario Court of Appeal said the female partner of the child’s biological mother could be legally recognized as the boy’s third parent.

The biological father, named on the boy’s birth certificate, is a friend of both women and is taking an active role in the child’s life.

My opinion on this child custody case sets me apart in the fathers’ and equal parenting movements. Many people believe marriage should only be between a male and a female, and every child should have one father and one mother. Fathers4Justice in Canada has announced they do not agree with this court ruling.

While I believe the rights of every biological parent need to be respected, I also know how much children benefit by having other loving, devoted adults in their lives. I believe if a same-sex couple has a child, and both love and care for it, both of those parents should stay active in the child’s life. The children in these cases deserve the protection of the law to have the protection of their parents.

It’s obvious to me how much these women love this child. They didn’t have the non-birth mom adopt the boy because that would have eliminated the father’s rights. Since I wasn’t raised by lesbian moms I can’t say what life will be like for this child. But I’m happy to see three adults who love him so much they’re willing to set a legal precedent to be his parents.

same-sex marriage child custody fathers4justice fathers rights

Male-Bashing Is Unacceptable

I read an article called “Are You Going to Let Him Manipulate You?” on a website called Latin Bay Area. Like so many articles I come across on abusive relationships, the author chose to label all males as perpetrators and all females as victims. While I applaud Maria Marin’s desire to empower women, like many others she does it by degrading men. I find this unacceptable.

How common is male-bashing? The answer is truly disturbing.

more…

domestic violence male-bashing misandry

Like me, this guy decided he needed to lose weight so he joined the Discovery Health National Body Challenge.

Discovery Health’s National Body Challenge is a FREE, eight-week, comprehensive fitness and weight-loss challenge that provides the tools and inspiration to get in shape, shed extra pounds and adopt a healthier lifestyle.

I’ve begun the journey by registering for the Challenge, which you can do here. Registration includes:

• 8-week membership to Bally Total Fitness ® (certain terms and conditions apply)
• Customized online Meal Plans with over 1,000 healthy recipes
• Multiple chances to win $1,000,000* (effective 1/13/07-3/10/07)
• Expert healthy lifestyle information
• Personalized Fitness Tracker and Plan
• Individualized Weight Tracker

I won’t be attending a scheduled weigh-in, but I may utilize the free 8-week membership to Bally’s Fitness. I wish there was a facility in my town, but the closest one is about 30 minutes away. Luckily I just received a coupon for one free week at a gym within walking distance of my home. If you live near one of these centers you can attend a weigh-in on January 13 or January 14:

• Brea Mall, 1065 Brea Mall,Brea, CA 92821
• Roosevelt Field, Old Country Rd & Meadowbrook Parkway, Garden City, NY 11530
• Woodfield Mall, 5 Woodfield Shopping Center, Schaumburg, IL 60173
• Westfield Montgomery, 7101 Democracy Blvd, Bethesda, MD 20817
• Bally Total Fitness®, 256 Mall Blvd, King of Prussia, PA 19406
• Bally Total Fitness®, 13350 Northwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77040
• Bally Total Fitness®, 2528 Old Denton Rd, Carrollton, TX 75006
• Bally Total Fitness®, 11060 Alpharetta Highway, Roswell, GA 3076
• Bally Total Fitness®, 3235 148th Ave. SE, Bellevue, WA 98007
• Bally Total Fitness®, 203 W Big Beaver, Columbia Center, Troy, MI 48084
• Bally Total Fitness®, 3554 Mayfield Dr, Cleveland Hts, OH 44118
• Bally Total Fitness®, 12235 N. Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85022
• Bally Total Fitness®, 180 El Camino Real, San Francisco, CA 94080
• Bally Total Fitness®, 285 Middlesex Ave, Medford, MA 02155

Discovery Health will be airing a television special about the Challenge on Sunday, January 14 and Monday, January 15 at 8 p.m. ET/PT

See how obesity affects a vegetarian family, as well as a meat-loving one. Watch as a family of musicians, eager to hit the charts, hits the gym first. And finally, see the amazing transformation of Jeff White and his family from last year’s Challenge, who have lost a combined total of 200 pounds.

Wondering if all this trouble will be worth it? Let’s have a look at that guy after he lost weight.

I’ll be honest, I won’t be following the diet plan exactly as written. I’ll be using some of it, but I had such good results with the diet plan I created two years ago, I have to use that too. I lost five pounds a week for six weeks, was never hungry and had tons of energy. Don’t worry, I’ll be sharing some of my secrets with you in later posts.

Will you join me in the Challenge? I’d love to hear from you. Let’s compare our results.

Meditation for a Happy New You from Beliefnet.com

You can say goodbye to the hostilities and grudges of the past that fester inside you, and keep you from surrendering to all that is life-affirming and new. You can embrace lightness and freedom. You can begin again. And what better time to start than now? Begin by dimming the lights or lighting a candle. Sit in a favorite spot or get cozy in your chair, and take a few deep breaths. Let us begin.

Listen to the meditation.

Below is a poster full of images that represent Seinfeld catchphrases, sayings, nicknames, and other Seinfeld memories. Use your Seinfeld knowledge and find all 38 Seinfeld memories.

Click HERE for larger image.

Answers HERE.