Author: TechyDad

100 Steps Father-Son Photoshoot

JSL, NHL, Photography, Photos

This was going to be a “Wordless Wednesday” post, but I needed to give too much back-story.  So instead, it’s a “Wordy Wednesday” post!  And a Photo-Heavy-Wordy-Wednesday post to boot.

On JSL’s birthday, he got a new camera.  In addition, I gave NHL my old camera with the broken flash.  (Where “gave” means “let him use with my supervision.”)

A few days later, Chookooloonks posted some photography exercises.  Among them was one called “100 Steps.”  It’s very simple.  Step 1: Grab your cameras.  Step 2: Walk out your front door.  Step 3: Take 100 steps.  Step 4: Find 20 things to take photos off.

So I armed the boys with their cameras, explained what we were going to do, gave them some ground rules (no photos of people without their permission, car license plates, etc) and off we went.  To keep things simple (especially for 4 year old JSL), I limited us to 10 photos.

First, here are mine:

IMGP0110IMGP0111IMGP0112IMGP0113IMGP0114IMGP0115IMGP0116IMGP0117IMGP0118IMGP0119

Now, here are NHL’s (with 2 removed because they were horribly out of focus and 1 removed because it could identify a neighbor’s house):

P1360581 P1360582 P1360584 P1360586 P1360587 P1360588 P1360589

Here are JSL’s (he only took nine):

DC000647 DC000648 DC000649 DC000650 DC000651 DC000652 DC000653DC000654DC000655

After we were done, we decided to stretch the rules and walk around our block for a bit taking more photos.  Here are some of ours.  See if you can guess who took which photos.

DC000661 DC000666DC000670 DC000674   P1360604 P1360607  P1360610 P1360630IMGP0125 IMGP0130IMGP0123 IMGP0126 IMGP0128  IMGP0120

If you answered that the first 4 were JSL’s, the next 4 were NHL’s and the last 6 were from me, then you were right!  Your prize?  The chance to go do the same thing with your kids.  Go outside for a walk and take photos together.  If they don’t have cameras, don’t worry.  Just have them point out things for you to take photos of.  Just remember the most important rule of all is to have fun together!

George Foreman Next Grilleration™ Removable Plate Grill Review

Review

IMGP0152Years back, we had a George Foreman grill.  We liked it, but it was very hard to clean.  I could clean it while it was hot and burn my fingers in the process or wait until it cooled and have to scrub it more.  Eventually, the pain of cleaning the grill made us put it away for good.  When I was given the opportunity to review the George Foreman Next Grilleration™ Removable Plate Grill, I was intrigued.  Would it show improvement over its predecessor?

I unpacked the grill and quickly figured out how to remove the grill plates.  It’s extremely easy.  You just pull on the side tabs.  The grill plates then slide right off for easy cleaning.  They’re even dishwasher-safe (though I cleaned mine by hand).

The big thing with George Foreman grills has always been the fat reduction claims.  Specifically:

New results of independent testing show that the George Foreman Grill removes up to 42% of fat from quarter-pound burgers made with 80/20 ground chuck beef, translating to a reduction of approximately 89 calories per burger!

So, did it hold up to the claim?  Well, I can’t measure the percentage of fat removed, but here are three photos of the burgers on the grill.  The first is of the raw ground beef patties, the second of the cooked burgers and the third of the fat that drained out.  (Click to enlarge.)

IMGP0154 IMGP0157 IMGP0158

Now, I can’t measure how much fat or calories that represents, but it definitely was fat/calories that we didn’t wind up ingesting.  While I was at it, I also grilled up some hot dogs and salami.

 IMGP0160 IMGP0162

The grill did a pretty good job of cooking everything.  I did have some trouble with the burgers, but I think that was an issue of 1) me making the patties too thick and 2) me not knowing the grill well enough to tell just when to pull them off before they overcook.  A bit more practice on it (and thinner patties) and I should be fine.

How was the cleanup?  As I mentioned before, I opted to wash everything by hand instead of putting it in our dishwasher.  (Mainly because the dishwasher was full at the time.)  I let the grill cool and used the included plastic spatula to scrape off what little fat/meat bits remained on the grill.  Then, I used a paper towel and dish soap to gently clean it.  I was finished with both plates, the drip tray and spatula in about five minutes.  Quick and easy.

While I don’t think this will replace my charcoal grill during nice weather in the spring/summer, it will definitely augment my cooking options.  If it is hot outside, the kids want hot dogs, and I don’t feel like firing up the charcoal grill (or if it is raining outside), it will be easier (and cooler in the house) to toss a few dogs on the George Foreman grill than to preheat the entire oven.

Disclaimer: This post was written for Family Review Network & George Foreman Cooking who provided the complimentary product for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

20 Pounds In 20 Weeks: Week 20: Final Check In

20lbs in 20 weeks, Fitness, Weight Loss
Starting Weight 205
Current Weight 182
Goal Weight 185
Lost 23
Left Until Goal 0

This is the final update in my 20 Pounds in 20 Weeks Challenge.  I hit my goal last week, so this week was mainly about making sure I didn’t slide back above it.

Not only didn’t I slide back above my goal weight, but I shed two and a half additional pounds.  I’m ending this challenge a full three pounds below my goal and twenty three pounds above where I was when I began.

During this challenge, I was using Google Documents to keep track of my points and weigh-ins.  I began using a regular spreadsheet, but quickly realized I’d need to be able to update it no matter which computer I was on.  I switched to Google Documents and it was great.  One of the nice fringe benefits was the ability to generate charts on my weigh-in data and easily export them as images.

Here’s a chart of my weigh-ins from beginning to end.  (Click to enlarge it.)

weight_loss_chart

You can see spikes for Disney World, Passover and JSL’s birthday.  Otherwise, it was a pretty steady drop.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to keep eating healthy, but I’m not going to hold as rigidly to the points structure as I did during the Twenty Week Challenge.  Perhaps I’ll check back in in another 20 weeks (that’d be in late October) to see how I’m doing at keeping the weight off.

1 … 180 181 182 183 184 … 300