I'm a moderately big loser

With a fair amount of effort and work, I now have one less lie in my life. For years I carried this little lie around with me everywhere, and even fooled a few cops along the way. I am of course referring to the three digit number that represents my weight on earth in imperial units. My license has had a weight on it that I had not seen staring back at me from the digital readout of our bathroom scale since Leo was king of the world.

I'm not sure exactly why I let myself get so big, but I can honestly say that I have always had a pretty good self image. I had never felt that my extra baggage had kept me from doing things that I enjoyed, and I think this fact helped get me up to the over 20 stone guy you see here with a very attractive woman at Sea World (I do think that Shamu still had me by a few tonnes however).



With the help of a very active and excited dog, I learned that running in the winter is actually quite enjoyable, and I stay much drier than when I used to run at noon in mid summer (they called me Evan "Sweat-ball" Jamison for a reason). It wasn't easy to start, and this is when I realized just how out of shape I really had become. I also decided to use the falcon perch/towel hanger/total gym 1000 complete exercise system for it's intended purpose for a while (endorsed by Chuck Norris himself, I believe for the use as a falcon perch, but I could just be remembering it wrong...)

I also learned to enjoy real food, and my palate changed dramatically over a few short weeks. I didn't crave sugar, nor did I want to eat late at night anymore. I actually lost most of the weight in about two months, and have been creeping back down to my high school weight, which I have now been sitting at or around for about 4 months. Here is me in my "skinny jeans" a few months ago that are now way to big for me (I'm down another 15 since this shot).


So here I sit, four pant sizes smaller maintaining a admirable 210, and back to eating ice cream almost daily. I do love having a much more efficient metabolism.....thanks Chuck!! The only drawback to this whole thing is that right before this dramatic change in size, I acquired quite a few nice pairs of pants for Christmas that really only fit for about a month or so. I guess that's not so bad, at least there is a lot of material for a denim quilt at some point.

I like dihydrogen monoxide. It has played a very special role in life, namely sustaining it. :) It has also made it much more interesting (and moist). Recently I somehow convinced Robin that the one thing that our beautiful home is missing is a small aquarium in the basement, and wouldn't ya know it, I found a small, unused 240 gallon 4'x4'x2' custom acrylic tank for sale (....small is a relative term...). It was the perfect little tank! so I have recently begun a new adventure in the aquatic world....setting up an aquarium that I have to pay for! The adventure actually started when we tried to get this little aquarium home.....they just don't make trucks as big as they used to or something, but that's another story.

So if you had an afternoon, 40 bucks, and part of an ex-waterbed frame/headboard, what would you do with them? The obvious answer is build a rock-solid custom stand for an awesome Thai river biotope tank, what else?!

If you too need to build something, what do you do first?.....Draw up the plans, in extreme detail no less. (Yes that is the actual blueprint I worked off of. If you need help reading it, please contact me and I can get you a copy of the key)



Measure, measure, cut.....

Keepin it Square, careful......

The most versatile bedframe I've ever slept on, it has served me well since '88!


....Tada!! On the stand (Albeit upside-down)
Now for plumbing plans........Yep, that'll fly.


...and that's where she sits now. If only it was that easy for Robin to decide what she wants me to face it with!! Next time, plumbing and hydro test!!!

So obviously to do this right one must become one with the cryptocorynes, but the one question remaining question.....which cyprinids to go with?...hmmm

-E