Is Microsoft's Project Natal the futuristic Xbox from The Island?

I always thought The Island was a great film -- entertaining, original for first time viewers, and who doesn't like seeing Scarlett Johansson running around in a tight white jump suit? When I first saw previews of Project Natal by Microsoft, I was skeptical they could pull off the fully immersive experience that we saw in that movie, where Scarlett and Ewan are battling it out in a futuristic, full-body holographic fighting Xbox. However recent reviews indicate Microsoft did a pretty decent job. I still think they will need to add some additional gloves and feet sensors for super accurate games, but how expensive could those be with modern bluetooth? Besides, Nintendo did this with its Wii MotionPlus and no one seemed to mind.

I'm not a big fan of modern video games since the controllers are so complicated -- two directional crosses, one directional pad, 36 buttons and vibration everywhere. But what could really get me back into games is a fully immersive experience where I have to put on my workout clothes to get into the game. I want to be sweating after playing for an hour, and I don't want to have to spend hours learning the controllers before I can get into it.

Perhaps the next generation of consoles will be that which brings me back? One can hope!

Great Quote on Looking Good

"The best way to look like you've put on 20 lbs of muscle is to lose 10 lbs of fat."

--Men's Health (this month)

Very true. I've been rowing 6x/week for the last few weeks (10K each time) and within two weeks one of my colleagues asked, "Have you put on some muscle in the last few weeks?" and I just smiled.

I am getting a bit tired of daily rowing so I am looking to start adding weight training 3x/week and then just row the other 3x/week, but I've been so busy recently I haven't had a moment to build up that routine! It's a good problem to have though.

The Super Detox

Well, here we are a week later and the cipro + prednisone cocktail is still not working. I still have green discharge, I'm still feeling terrible upstairs, and I still feel like I did for the eight years prior to my surgery. I am switching to another antibiotic today, but another idea hit me on the drive back: the super detox.

I had thought of this a long time ago but never acted on it. Basically the idea would be a 4-5 day period where I would be on the most hard-core diet I had ever experienced doing all sorts of healthy detoxifying programs during the day, and I think now that I have a 5-day window over the holidays before my travel starts up again, I can act on it. Here are the thoughts:

• Diet is the "wheatgrass fast". From the last 1.5 years of diet change, I recall fondly how when I was on daily wheatgrass that I felt very good, and I remember a brief moment driving along the GW thinking that my sinuses were feeling better. I also recall reading about the "wheatgrass fast" back in early 2008 which basically means wheatgrass and water for 3+ days straight. So, I'm going to get myself a wheatgrass juicer and enough wheatgrass to last a few days, and drink that and only that. It might be acceptable to have some fresh squeezed orange juice to help get it down the stomach. The purported anti-biotic and anti-inflammatory benefits of wheatgrass make it a perfect alternative to the drug path I'm currently on.
• Daily yoga, most likely Bikram yoga for the intense sweating/detoxifying element.
• Shower/sauna daily? Relaxing and detoxifying as well.
• A very nice long massage to tie it all together at the end.
• Perhaps meditation CDs? I might be pretty sick of detoxifying all day so maybe I will just work my way through my netflix queue instead of doing more meditating.

Anyway I think this is a great idea... time to iterate on it.

Nausea

Today's my weekly cheat day so after my morning 10K (damper on 5, 43:52, splits at 2:11 avg) I loaded up on some pho, filled with those wonderful non-Paleo carbohydrates. I'm going to load up on a few more thousand calories today until I feel disgusted to my stomach (almost there now anyway).

Tomorrow I'm going to do a water fast and see if I could pick up a regular intermittent fasting routine (every Sunday). Partially due to possible health benefits, but also because I'm lazy and not cooking on Sundays sounds good and will save me some money. I've done water fasts before but never considered it a weekly (or biweekly routine), but what have I got to lose?

Some possible good news came this week too: I saw my ENT on Tuesday and she gasped when see saw all the infection inside my sinuses. She suspects I was reinfected sometime during my recovery and this could potentially be explaining my pain. I'm back on anti-inflammatories (Prednisone) and antiobiotics (Cipro for now). On Monday we'll have the culture results and can change the meds accordingly. So there is hope still!

Lowest weight this week was 201.1 lbs and 18.5% BF. I'm a little disappointed at my slower weight loss progress despite strict diet and intense cardio burn, but perhaps I'm gaining muscle so weight itself isn't as relevant? I was always skeptical at how quickly I could lose weight in the past by sheer diet (and then my suspicions were reaffirmed when I would gain it all back within a week on normal diet), so I think I'm on a slower, more dedicated roll to a leaner body.