At that time you can reassess how realistic it will be for you to attain your 30-pound weight-loss goal by the end of May. At this point you may want to adjust your deadline depending upon how you did the first month. For instance, suppose your weight loss during January was only two pounds.

How realistic is it that you can lose seven pounds in each of the next four months? If your weight loss at the end of January is eight pounds, how realistic is it that you can lose five and one-half pounds in each of the next four months?

Once short-term goals have been set, realizing that you will need to devote time each week (and each day) toward achieving your goals is crucial. With today’s hectic lifestyles, finding extra time to plan healthy meals and be more physically active is often difficult.

Make things like regular exercise and healthy eating a priority by scheduling them directly in your weekly planner. It is important to make your goals a priority and block off time as you would any important appointment. Remember, the appointment is with the most important person in your life—yourself!

(Did you notice that? I just used one of those trendy phrases. I am so hip.)

So, the Survivor 3 Babe Factor is just as strong as ever. The difference being that these people have serious SKILLS and as a result, their babeness is being overlooked. There are a few cast members who concern me when it comes to survival skills; the super-achieving way-rich cheerleader, the guy who lists “smoking” as a favorite hobby, and the surfer dude with lots of tattoos. But hey, I already told you the cheerleader’s a genius. The smoker is a gay guy that was raised in a military family – if he can survive that he can survive anything. And the surfer dude plays drums. It’s an accepted fact that anyone who plays drums can do no wrong.

In this group, we have marathoners (more than one), tri-athletes, mountain bikers, college and pro athletes, champion boxers, and even an avid hunter that makes Ted Nugent look like Barney. (Ted Nugent is going to kick my ass for saying that, but you know… that’s OK, because getting my ass kicked by Ted Nugent would be really cool. And that’s a picture of Ted, by the way.)

Unfortunately, this avid hunter won’t have a chance to show his skills. On this protected wildlife reserve, harming, much less eating, any wild animal is punishable by imprisonment. And since there are no fish in the nearby waters larger than a minnow, I’m not quite sure how and what these survivors will eat.

And remember Kimmi from Survivor 2 and how she didn’t want to get in the dirty water and was starting to annoy everyone because she had major body odor? Well, this season they are expecting EVERYONE to stink in a bad way since the two water sources aren’t human friendly – one being infested with crocodiles and the other containing numerous parasites.

So there won’t be any food to eat and people are going to have major B.O. I’m sure things could be worse. They could be there without 300 CBS production crew people just a short walk away and cameramen hording over their every move and sharp-shooter rangers positioned around the encampments just in case the wild animals DO attack. Plus, it’s only a little more than a month. I’m sure people won’t die, unless, of course, the ranger misses and a lion teaches the world a lesson about survival of the fittest. But just to be safe, the Kenyan Fish and Wildlife Ministry issued strict guidelines: they were required to wear bells at all times and “carry a canister of pepper spray, should they accidentally stumble across a lion.”

Baseball was big when I was a kid. I played at Antonia Khoury League, which was a very large cornfield in Missouri converted into many ball diamonds. I remember all-day tournaments in the heat of the sun, no trees to provide shade – nothing but the sound of bats hitting balls, people cheering, and plumes of dust as the base runner slid into second. For those on the field, a welcome cool gust of air also meant breathing in the dirt and digging the dust out of their eyes.

From all the pictures I’ve seen, this is what Survivor Africa is going to be like – except it’ll be hotter and the players’ goal is not to get as dirty as possible. Other than that, it’s pretty much the same. I even remember kids not wanting to play left field in the far corner diamond because every year 2-3 outfielders would get ambushed by lions and dragged off into the forest.

So I can really relate to what the Survivor Africa cast will be dealing with.

(You know, sometimes I write stuff just to see if you’re paying attention. Everyone knows that lions don’t like baseball.)

The first thing I noticed about this season’s cast is that these people are HARD CORE. I mean, the only girl that probably couldn’t kick my ass is the former cheerleader and she’s a frickin’ near-perfect-SAT-scores genius. There have been many comparisons made between this and the other Survivor casts. Here’s a typical one I found at Washington Post Online.

Hot bodies are out and carbohydrates are in on the next edition of CBS’s smash reality series “Survivor.” Unlike the second edition, which featured a younger, fitter cast, the new cast members cover a wider range of ages and body types. Of the 16 contestants on “Survivor: Africa,” which was filmed this past summer, two are “tubby guys,” said Joe Rhodes, a TV Guide reporter who spent a few days in July on the set with the crew.

One, Tom Buchanan, is a 46-year-old goat farmer from Virginia. The other, Carl Bilancione, is a 46-year-old dentist from Florida. “The first cast was interesting, and the second was more eye candy – many people thought they were boring,” said Rhodes, whose stories on the new show will appear in next week’s issue of TV Guide. “The third cast is a combination.”

I’ve seen this restated in several other articles. I think these people are being underestimated. The two tubby guys just mentioned: One entered strong man competitions and was a walk-on football player in college who later was given a scholarship. The other “tubby guy” runs marathons. Marathons!

And I especially think that this Survivor cast is not being given fair treatment when it comes to the Babe Factor. In Survivor 2, the babes were quite excellent – truly “inspirational.” But in Survivor 3, the babes are what I call “Super-Babes” and not necessarily because they are more babe ‘o licious, but because every one of them has a resume that reads like someone on the President’s Cabinet. I think one of their profiles says this:

A typical day is 1-3 marathons or triathlons while also balancing the budget for seven third-world countries, discovering cures for both AIDS and cancer, feeding the homeless, teaching boy scouts how to start a fire from just a piece of tree bark, building a new Amish barn, setting a good example, swimming across the Mississippi, and cooking a nice dinner consisting of home-grown certified organic marinated vegetables and fresh seafood she caught herself with her bare hands.

Not all the stars’ fashion choices shone quite that brightly. Two crooners picked particularly cruel shoes: Madonna’s red platforms defied gravity and somehow locked the star high on her tiptoes like a Barbie. And Twain demonstrated that thigh-high dominatrix boots don’t flatter even the thinnest figures.

While Hill looked smashing in the outfit she wore to sing, she collected her first award in what looked like an old undershirt and wrap skirt. (Hill at one point thanked her two small children for “not spilling anything on Mommy’s dress,” but maybe they didn’t do her any favors.)

Still, the women sounded great, and Twain summed up the mood of the night: “Women have been rising to the top. Music is no exception.”

Number of weeks to train for each training phase (fitness, hypertrophy, preparation, strength, power, and active recovery)
Number of days to train per week
Muscular areas to train (body parts)
Number of exercises and exercise order for each workout
Intensity of each workout (training loads, repetitions, sets, and rest periods).

I take all these parameters into consideration when I outline the yearly training plan, or mesocycle.

Flexibility
My flexibility programs incorporate two types of stretching techniques: proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (P-N-F) stretching and static stretching (stretch and hold technique) for all the major muscle groups of the body. In P-N-F stretching, you stretch the muscle to the point of tightness, perform an isometric (opposing muscle) contraction, then go back to stretching and holding to a new point of tightness. The athlete performs three or four minutes of continuous warm-up movements before a stretching routine to ensure that the temperature of the muscles and surrounding tissues is sufficient for proper stretching.
I can’t emphasize enough to you the importance of sustaining a proper diet and adequate fluid intake.

Diet and hydration
Lastly, I can’t emphasize enough to you the importance of sustaining a proper diet and adequate fluid intake. The philosophy I instill in our athletes is based upon deriving up to 55-60% of all calories from carbohydrates, 20-25% from fat, and 20-25% from protein. I have the players supplement foods on an individual basis according to nutrient deficiencies, body type, activity level, and food preference.

It’s also important to drink at least 8 servings of 8 ounces of water per day. I also make sure the players replenish any water weight lost after their workouts with 16 ounces of water for every pound lost. I weigh the players before and after practices to ensure adequate intake of fluids.

I’ve found that training for basketball is a year-round process. It’s very important for every athlete to maintain a certain fitness level throughout the entire year. There are times to train hard, times to allow for rest and recovery, and times to emphasize certain aspects of training. I look forward to sharing my methods for designing training programs for the entire year.

Every program must be based on scientific principles of training.
There are many ways to train. Nonetheless, every program must be based on scientific principles of training to achieve the proper physical development of the athlete. With the Orlando Magic I use various training methods for a total-body fitness approach.

Strength training
The variables of strength training I incorporate come from power lifting: exercise order, days to train, strength percentages, distances, and rest periods. The speed endurance concepts (distances and rest periods) come from track and field, and establish the off-season aerobic base training.

Injury prevention
Injury prevention is key to my training philosophy. I first determine the muscular areas in the basketball athlete which are susceptible to injury. When I design strength and conditioning programs, I incorporate injury prevention with the principle of specificity of training for a complete program.

Specificity of training
Specificity of training copies the specific skills and movements of a sport or activity in your training routine. It’s important to use the principle of specificity in your training, especially in areas where you want to improve. Basketball is a game of running, jumping, stopping, turning, back pedaling, sliding, chasing, diving, shooting, passing, and dribbling.

I record for each athlete or position the specific amount of time associated with performing each movement – duration of work, time of rest, time between movements, and repetition of movements.

I also note the exact distances and precise areas the athlete travels on the court – two steps left, right, back, forward, diagonal, vertical. I observe these movements and analyze them to help lay the groundwork for creating an exercise base.
You never improve if you continually do the same things.

First of all, if the kids are in the car, I use the time to talk to them. I ask them about school, friends, new musical groups, movies, books, you name it. They can’t just walk away or mumble, they’re trapped for the space of the ride, and are usually more than willing to share their thoughts. We have some great exchanges this way. Once the conversation is exhausted, I listen to their music. Sometimes it’s tough, but most times I learn something and even begin to sing along. It builds bridges between me and my teen-agers and keeps me tuned in to popular culture.

If I’m alone in the car, I enjoy that time. On a mundane level, I will turn on all-news radio and get the top headlines of the day. It keeps me informed and feeds me story ideas for the writing and editing work that I do. If I’m full-up on news, I turn on the oldies radio station and sing along, revving my mood with the beat of the ’60s. Or I turn on the classical music station and stay tuned if there’s a favorite symphony or piano concerto.

But the best time for me in the car is spent in prayer and meditation. The car is a perfect vehicle for this, especially my minivan, with its panoramic windows where I can see the sky, the trees, the lovely lakes and winding hills of the town I live in. I am truly at one with nature and with my spiritual self. I have conversations with God, with Jesus and often with Mary, and then I say Hail Marys and Our Fathers for a host of people and painful situations close to home and around the world. Last week, I prayed for my family, for several friends going through cancer treatment or other major illness, and for the poor people of Armenia, whose Prime Minister and several other elected officials were gunned down last week by terrorists. The Armenians have suffered for most of this century — through World War I, through the brutality of the Turks in its aftermath, through Soviet oppression, through earthquakes. And now, as they reach for freedom, there was one more setback. I know I am only one voice, but even one voice raised in prayer can help.

This is not an unselfish deed. The mere act of praying brings me peace and a sense of grace. I can actually feel my spirits lift. One morning, in the midst of such prayer, I caught a blur of graceful movement spiraling upward out of the corner of my eye. I glanced over and saw a majestic gray heron lifting off the lake, through the mist, soaring toward the sun. I caught my breath at the sight, at the beauty of it and the wonder. I hadn’t realized there were such birds practically in my back yard. In all the years I had lived in my town, I had never seen the creature, and haven’t seen it since, more than a year later, even though I drive past that lake on more mornings than I can count. It was a glimpse of nature’s splendor that I was privileged to witness.

We live in an increasingly hectic world with so little time to reflect. But car time can be your time, just as it has become mine.

We provide safe call cards used for calling many worldwide lines. This low-cost international telephone cards offer the lowest and the most profitable prices for phone to a lot of countries.

Say that the car is undrivable, and so beat up that you can’t even sell it. You call the charities, and they won’t touch it with a ten foot pole. The choices left:

1. You call the local high schools and vocational schools, to see if they want it for training students in auto mechanics. No luck?

2. You call junkyards and see if they’ll just haul it away for free. No luck?

3. Will the junkyard take it if you deliver it to the nearest garage to them? Then whip out your AAA card and have it towed to that garage. Or if AAA won’t play, then you may be stuck with the cost of having it towed to the junkyard.

4. You clean it out completely, have a friend tow you somewhere with a towstrap, park it, take off the license plates, and sneak away in the dark, abandoning it. (The editors deny ever doing such a thing, even as teenagers.) We’re not recommending it. For all we know, nowadays the cops check the serial number with DMV and come knocking on your door.

Conclusion

Selling a used car is not all that bad, as long as you put yourself in the right frame of mind. Be polite. Say, “No, thank you” a lot. And if it isn’t gone by Sunday evening, shrug your shoulders, say, “Well, at least I got some work done around the house,” and put in the ad for the next weekend.

Last notes on the word “firm”: frankly, if someone offered us $100 below our asking price on Sunday at 5 p.m, we’d take it. Who wants to spend another weekend selling cars?

On the other hand, “firm” prices can bring you several phone calls on Monday from the hagglers who hassled you over the weekend – probably offering even less than their first lowball offer. And then they’ll hammer you some more when they come again. We’d tell them, “No thank you, I’ll be advertising it next weekend.”

Likewise with safety inspections. The final decision on safety inspections is generally made by a department of the state police. If you find an auto shop hitting you with a huge estimate, call the state police and ask what to do. In many states a patrolman will stop by the garage and look for himself.

Cops in the safety division are not automotive newbies. Many have been mechanics, and all of them have been inspecting semi trucks for a long time. If the trooper thinks the shop is gouging you, it’s quite possible they’ll tell the shop: “Forget it. Do front and rear brakes, replace the power steering hose, and she’s good to go.” Remember, cops don’t like crooks much. In states where it’s the new owner who’s responsible for the inspection, we’ve even seen a trooper take the new owner aside and ask “Where are you going to be driving this? No freeway at all? OK … but take it easy, and get those front tires replaced as soon as you can.”

When To Toss It In the Trash Instead of Selling It

A few years ago, California passed a law saying that all used cars had to be sold with a warranty from the seller. (They may have repealed the law since.)

Crazy. If your state has a law like that, and your car is only worth $2,000, we’d say: FORGET IT! Don’t even think of selling it. Give it to a charity, and take the tax writeoff. Who needs that kind of grief?

Yes, the tax writeoff might only save you $500 bucks on your taxes. But if your car is only worth $2,000, any mechanic can find at least $1,000 worth of work that needs to be done, for safety, emissions, or whatever. A complete automatic transmission overhaul alone can run $800. If it needs an engine rebuild, you’re sunk. You could actually lose money.

Note: if you give your car to a charity, make sure you get a signed receipt from the charity, not some little blank form that you can “fill out yourself.” And if for some reason you’re giving a more expensive car to charity, you might want to read this web page, Donate a Car? The guy’s a bit of an IRS worry-wart, in our opinion, but if your giveaway is worth real money, it’s worth a read.

Note that DMVs are really putting the screws to used car buyers these days, often taxing them on more than the Blue Book value – even if they actually paid you less than the Blue Book value. (You see why we’re ambiguous about ethical/unethical?) Some states will tax the buyer the actual below-Blue Book price only if they have a notarized bill of sale. Generally, if we sell a car for substantially under Blue Book, we’ll take the time to go to a notary and have it done right. It can save the buyer several hundred dollars.

Filling Out the Title Properly. Twenty years ago “open title” sales were common. Kids would buy beaters, fix them up, and sell them for a profit. The title would never even transfer, until the kid resold it to the final buyer. Motor vehicle departments are getting meaner about this. We haven’t done it for years, but it wouldn’t surprise us if it’s a misdemeanor in some states by now. The one thing you absolutely should fill out is the odometer reading. If someone buys a car from you, rolls back the odometer, and resells it, this could come back to bite you.

Fraud. Selling cars doesn’t have all the rules that selling houses does; at least you don’t need a termite inspection. But even when the bill of sale says “as is, no warranty”, that doesn’t mean you can lie your head off without worry. If your car was in a major wreck, or was flood damaged, or used as a police car or taxi, or imported without passing emission standards, you’re obliged to tell the buyer. Assuming you knew about it, of course. A lot of people buy a car that had been wrecked and resell it without ever knowing, just as lots of house sellers didn’t know the house had termites. “Not knowing” doesn’t mean you’re 100% free and clear if some bozo decides to sue you in small claims court … but judges are pretty good at spotting liars (and bozos), and a small claims judge would be likely to just sigh and assign you to repay them the difference in value.

Safety and Smog Emissions Tests

Like tag return procedures, smog and safety inspection rules vary from state to state, and even county to county. In some places there are no tests at all.

When they are the buyer’s responsibility, you’re probably covered by the “as is, no warranty” in the bill of sale. When they are the seller’s responsibility, they can add up to a pretty penny. In fact they can add up so fast that your $2,000 car is better off going to the junkyard.

However, you don’t necessarily have to take a repair shop’s estimate lying down. A lot of unscrupulous repair shops treat mandatory safety or smog tests as a “we gotcha!” situation: “either you pay up, or we’ll prevent you from selling your car!”