MikeyGMin

Nice guy. Pictures are accurate and he's interested in providing a quality service. I thought he had a really good head on his shoulders and enjoyed our meeting.

I don't know if it's better for targeting fat in general, but for me personally, I know that I perform much better if I have not eaten. Just a couple cups of coffee so that I have a caffeine boost. I do 50 minutes of low impact cardio six days a week. Twenty minutes on the rowing machine and 30 minutes on the elliptical. I know the calories burned on the elliptical machine is not gospel because it only asks you for your age and weight, but they are very consistent across the machines at my gym, so I think they are reasonable for an order of magnitude comparison. I burn significantly higher calories if I do a mid-morning workout with no food. If I've eaten in the last couple hours I feel sluggish and the interval program kicks my butt.

There is a great little calculator that takes into account your sex, age, height, current weight and activity level. I checked and it does match the calories listed in the app I use. www.calculator.net

Snarky ad hominem GIFs. What people without an actual counter argument generally resort to. So much easier than admitting they might actually be wrong.

That's priceless. Saying "No offense but you don't know yourself." Sorry, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I've tried it...it's not for me. In more than half a century my heart has never gone pitter-pat for a female. I think it's safe to say that I am well and truly 100% gay.

I'm sure this added to the confusion. Plus, relations and cooperation between flight crew and passengers is probably at an all-time low. We've all seen the cell phone videos of both parties acting very inappropriately, but it seems that no matter who is at fault, the passenger ends up getting booted off the flight. That said, it would take a very dim-witted person to allow their animal to be put into the overhead compartment. I certainly would have thrown a cell-phone-video-worthy hissy fit before ever doing so. Hell, I would have pulled out the cell phone myself and started recording.

Gay for pay validates nothing about orientation.

Ridiculous. No one seems to have any trouble believing that many men are 100% gay. I know for a fact that I am. So how can there not be 100% straight men? It's not exactly new news that sexual orientation is complex, but this is just ridiculous wishful thinking that completely defies common sense.

That's the thing about smartphone-aphobes -- there is often this curmudgeonly pride about "not needing" a device that I just don't understand. They never go somewhere new where they need directions? Thet never interact with someone where there is a language barrier? They never want to find a new restaurant in an unfamiliar area? I guess I just don't know that many shut-ins, but my guess is that most of them rely on other people's devices.

To get around this particular issue you should be able to put both e-tickets on your phone, but to answer your original question, no. I can't think of a single person I know (over the age of 12) who does not have a smartphone

I actually use stevia. I'm not sure where that falls in this spectrum, but I like my coffee sweet and that isn't going to change. So for me, I am convinced it is a better option than sugar. My super-fit friend will actually use raw sugar because he knows he's going to burn about a zillion calories at the gym everyday. Lol

Ahhhh...now that makes sense.

Maybe I'm not doing the math correctly but is this really that unusual? A friend of mine recently tried to rent a unit in a particularly desirable building in downtown Austin. He had to demonstrate that the rent was not more than 1/3 of his monthly income. Isn't that right in that 30 to 40 times rent area? (Of course I'm assuming you are talking about an annual income of 30 - 40 times the rent!)

Wow. What is the allure for you? My family likes to do cruises for reunions and I always dread them. I cannot stand the emphasis on gorging oneself that seems to be the priority for most passengers. I also feel the ports of call are so short and orchestrated that you don't really get a feel for the place. I have technically been to every major port of call in the Caribbean, but don't feel like I've really seen a single island. I think you must have to enjoy the ship day activities in order to enjoy yourself on a cruise.

I love that stuff! I have a young friend who is extremely fit and EXTREMELY disciplined about his diet. (With a beautiful lean body that is a testament to his hard work.) He spends a fortune on organic food and cringes every time he sees me use that butter spray or artificial sweetener. I keep telling him that I can't boil the ocean. I can manage the calories and do a decent job on sodium, but I can't take on the war against chemical substitutes on top of that. In the end, something is going to kill me and I'll take my chances with the chemicals over weight-related illness.

This sums up so much. My life spun out of control when my partner died 20 years ago and I gained 80 pounds. I spent years mired in mindless eating until I took control back a little over 10 years ago. It took about a year of actual dieting and counting every calorie to get back to "normal," but I have kept it off through mindful eating and figuring out what works for me. That's going to be different things for different people. What works for me is: 1. Nothing is off limits. The minute I tell myself I will never eat another french fry is the minute I will start obsessing about them. I have a cheat day each week where I don't go crazy but I will eat those damn french fries if that's what I've been craving. The rest of the week is mindful and always having a general idea about the amount of calories consumed. 2. I developed a "good enough" philosophy when it comes to food. Fried chicken is delicious but a roasted chicken breast is good enough. A baked potato with all the fixings is delicious, but a baked potato with a little butter and a little sour cream and a lot of pepper is good enough. A big rich dessert is delicious, but a square of dark chocolate slowly melting in your mouth is good enough. Etc, etc. 3. This is counter to what a lot of people suggest when dieting, and may be more appropriate in a maintenance phase, but I weigh myself every single day. I know my body and I know that my weight will fluctuate a couple pounds up or down, but I know that anything more than that means I am being too lax and I nip that in the bud. A couple days of being extra mindful about what I'm eating will get me back on point.

Think about whether you are just bored or whether there is something you would rather be doing or someplace you would rather be doing it. If you're just bored, suck it up because for the vast majority of people, work isn't particularly enjoyable. But if there is something you'd rather be doing or someplace else you'd rather live, I would really give thought to being bolder. As I'm wrapping up my career and moving into a retirement that I'm very excited about, my one big regret is that I was never bold enough to move to New York City and experience life there. Regrets suck and I should have taken the risk when I was younger and more flexible. Regrets late in life really really REALLY suck!

That's interesting. I find BelAmi the most cookie-cutter and bland of all the companies. It's like the same 10 guys over and over and over again. <yawn>

Two friends and I took them together last year. Laza, a darker-skinned Mexican; Rafa, a light-skinned Mexican with an American grandfather; and me (total whitebread.) The results all seemed reliable -- or at least plausible. Laza had the biggest mixture that included Indo, Southern European and African. Rafa had a good mixture with a bit of the local Indo population but was mostly southern European. I was greater than 99% northern European (boring.)

Lol. Is there any other reason to hire a trainer?

The stakes go up considerably when you are "sponsoring" or "suppoting" or "keeping" (or whatever you want to call it) a young man. I think you should both give and receive a greater degree of honesty, but it's still best not to scratch too deeply. (Believe me, I've been there.) You can't start thinking that your greater degree of support allows you greater control over a guy or you are bound for misery. I can handle lies of omission, but I hate being looked in the eye and lied to, so I try never to ask questions that I'm not prepared to have answered honestly.

Check out the Nest series. They aren't the cheapest but I think they're a pretty good value. Cheap outdoor cameras don't stand up to weather. They are also very flexible about adding additional cameras. Note: There is an additional fee for streaming and saving data to their cloud but you can get simple notifications for free. https://store.nest.com/product/outdoor-security-camera/NC2400ES

I've had several regulars stop working and then come back or just contact me privately (which I'm always flattered by.) Many of these young men never intend it to be a long-term gig and have complicated young lives they're trying to launch, so I tend not to overthink it and just wish them well. However, I've never had one break the news to me in such a rude and personal manner. This one I would have told, "Thanks but no thanks. I've retired from hiring."

That's how I interpret it. He gets points for honesty, but certainly nothing I'd be interested in pursuing.

You are a Class Act sir!