In the rush of putting together a blog post about my 2009 resolutions, I actually left out the most pressing set of changes that I’m needing to make during the new year — those associated with improving my physical health. Today was primarily spent on achieving that end since I received three month-long workout challenges through my local gym. Each challenge is head-to-head against Hope. The winner will be determined by the total number of gym visits and percentages of fat and weight loss. Needless to say, it’s on…

Today’s portion of our health quest started at 6:30 am at the Lifetime Family Fitness in Cary, North Carolina. We met with one of the trainers there. Hope learned new ways to flatten her abs, while I concentrated primarily on nutrition and getting better control of my metabolism. I walked away with a sample meal plan that went between 500 to 1,000 calories higher than what I typically consume in a day, so I’m a bit skeptical, but willing to give it a try. However, I did get some good insight into my regular diet’s lack of protein.

So I was a good boy diet-wise and exercise-wise today. I rounded it all out by downloading some new workout music. Now-a-days I’m spending a large part of my day listening to hardcore militant rap — the kind of stuff you can hear on my new favorite podcast, the Ghosts of the Republic anti-NWO weekly podcast. It’s definitely the perfect soundtrack to get ready for war and a year of solid, vigorous workouts.

I finally reached a milestone that I had been waiting for since I read the New Testament, one that I thought I would never reach — my 33rd birthday. I was too tired for the party — so tired that I was drunk before the first beer. It’s good I had someone to drive me, especially after the third beer. Too bad she couldn’t tell me that I was wearing a University of North Carolina jersey to a bar in downtown Raleigh (home of my very own North Carolina State University). At least I didn’t forget my very special party hat.

Planning the party was easy. I just showed up at a meeting that was already going on and said “Hey everybody, it’s my birthday!” Genius. And I knew no one would be so upset by this act that they would get up and leave in the middle of dinner. The meeting that I crashed was the Wake County Libertarian Party meeting. There was no where else I wanted to be on my very special 33rd. Everyone was great, as usual.

More photos from tonight’s get-together can be found at my new Picasa photo album.

Spring Break officially begins for me next week, so I’ve decided to take a break from some of the more cerebral postings that I typically do. Instead I’ll be switching it up with photo blogs, cool online things, weird quizzes, secret codes — whatever comes to mind.

Today, I’m celebrating my success in finding a store in the nearby Triangle area that carries inexpensive corncob pipes. A special thanks goes out to the CVS at the corner of Tryon and Holly Springs in Raleigh for hooking me up. I inaugurated it with a little klip dagga and kratom this afternoon.