My Somatotype adventure...

Ao ler uma noticia sobre carne artificial estive a reflectir um pouco sobre a minha relacao com a alimentacao desde que me mudei para os EUA. Ando neste lado do Atlantico ja fazem alguns anos. Tenho estadia permanente num estado em que existem mais obesos (aos meus olhos) do que carros na estrada. Visto viajar bastante (por prazer e nao so') noto que nas areas metropolitanas a "coisa" muda de figura. Em NYC sinto-me o mais obeso, em DC acho que estou na media, em Chicago calculo que eles sejam elegantes por estarem mirradinhos com o frio, em Grand Cayman o calor e a humidade e' tal que destilam, e podiamos continuar por ai' fora.

Continuando, quando aqui cheguei estava com um somatotipo Ectomorphic. A dar para o magro. Sempre comi o que quis e nunca engordei (mesmo quando tentava!). Com aproximadamente 7% de gordura corporal sentia-me saudavel. 'A medida que o tempo foi passando, associado a um pouco de desprezo alimentar, comecei a notar alguns comentarios (menos proprios!!!!) daqueles que eu pensava que me queriam bem. Alheio a esse aumento corporal decidi meter-me num hydrostatic tank e, realmente, quase que me "afogava" quando vi os resultados. Tinha passado de ecto a endomorphic num abrir e fechar de olhos, e nem sequer vi o mesomorphic.

Entao porque, perguntava. Sem duvida que foi uma questao de alimentacao. Aqui e' facil desprezarmos os bons habitos alimentares que temos em Portugal - ou pelo menos que eu tinha! A vida corre a um ritmo louco, entre trabalho, viagens, e saidas. A comida entalada domina nos supermercados. A comida fresca domina pelo preco excessivo. As tipicas sandes fazem parte de uma dieta menos saudavel. Ha tantos factores que contribuiram para este aumento de peso somente associado 'a alimentacao. Mas no fundo, e falando com amigos "locais", e' uma questao de educacao e cultura. Diria que 90% das pessoas com que me dou nem sabem cozinhar um ovo estrelado. Foram educados a comer a "Peanut and butter jelly sandwich", comer enlatados porque e' rapido, congelados e mais nao sei o que. E' facil ir-se atras de tais habitos.

Apos regressar a habitos alimentares mais portugueses, consegui perder peso e estabilizar. Diria que estou num estado endo-mesomorphic neste momento e ainda preciso de perder um pouco mais. Ainda ha aqui uns restos de gordura indesejada, mas ha'-de ir la' com o tempo - Espera-se!

Life is good...

I'm in Lisbon :)

Great start... Not!

... just found out that one of my NIH grants ($750k) was not funded!! Re-submitting in April :s

Ready...

... for vacation!

Addendum

I really dislike to fold socks

Sunday...

Recovering... trying to clean the loft... start to prepare to leave to Portugal... Preparing the brief two days of work that are fully booked with meetings, conference calls, and more meetings.... Sunday, Bloody Sunday

;)

Lex talionis

Due to some controversy currently being discussed about the "best" method for lethal injections, I have been having some interesting discussions with some friends and colleagues. Most of them have left me speechless as I've found that 95% of the them are in agreement with death penalty. All of our discussions have been ending inconclusive. Arguments back and forth; scientific facts thrown in different directions; physiological pain discussed; emotions at their highest!! Normally it ends with them saying "An eye for an eye."

Maybe because where I came from there's no death penalty, maybe because I've dealt with death too often, maybe... maybe I just cannot understand the concept of willingly take a (human) life and be an avid supporter of it. Or maybe I am the one "blind" to it?

Road Trip...

to a NFL game.
Be back later :)

Update: Just leaving tomorrow AM. Going to Cleveland and coming back Friday or Saturday!

Popeye

I admit. I did watch Popeye and ate spinach :)

Procrastination is... (II)

... having to catch up!!!
Still in the lab. I'll be staying here the next 48h. Will miss my bed :)

Consequencias

depois desta "brincadeira" (Abstinence) o meu BlackBerry anda muito esquisito... Parece-me que nao se va' aguentar por muito mais. Acho que vou precisar de um novo... soon!!! Damn it!

The dog of the house

In this picture she was doing her favorite activities - getting a tan and sleeping. Naturally, eating was her top priority as the good Lab that she was :-) It always bring me good memories to look at her pictures.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

I will never forget/forgive to have missed the concert in 1994 (Cascais, Portugal)

Can't wait...

...final season of "Lost" starts March 2010

Adventures

Saturday Afternoon. Rainy day.

Hair Stylist: So what are we going to do today?

Me: I don't know!

Hair Stylist: huh? (looking extremely confused)

Me: Yes, I have not been to a place like this for some years...

Hair Stylist: hmmm

Me: But I am open enough for you do whatever you want with it.

Hair Stylist: Cool!!! (in a very excited tone)

It ended up well. Just some minor trimming, and lots of talking. Its getting there :)

Let The Games Begin

Today we had the first snow flakes. Interesting, because it rarely snows around here - maybe one to two weeks a year. However, I am taking it as a good sign. The snow season is going to be good, and the snow might be just perfect for snowboard.

I am planning a trip to go somewhere to snowboard. Last year didn't do it - recovering from a stupid injury. This year, while still recovering, will definitely not miss it :) Not sure where/when I am going. Was planning to hit the West Side. Have an invitation from a friend to meet up in Vancouver (Canada) and go from there. Not sure. Honestly, just look forward to get my board out of the closet and go down the slopes with my camera :)

Anyone wants to join me? Just hit me up :)

NYC Night Lights

disclaimer: bad quality picture. Low exposition taken from a sailing boat does not work very well :)

The Lady

disclaimer: bad quality picture. Low exposition taken from a sailing boat does not work very well :)

Procrastination is...

... me right now!!!

News stand

Picture taken by accident while I was talking with a friend

Autumn

Abstinence

The stupid trackball of my BlackBerry decided to stop working. I bought a new one and today decided to change it (picture). Smooth operation. I turn it back on and realized its still not working. After some "googling" I found that its a hardware problem and hard to fix. Damn! My BlackBerry is not fully working, and now what?!?!

I'm addicted to my BlackBerry. I admit. Everyone says that admitting your addictions is the first step to a successful rehabilitation. So there we go, I admitted. Now I am into a forced abstinence. I start to feel it on the body. Feeling the chills, the sweats, the shivering like if I was on North Pole, the headaches, the fingers without action, no scrolling, no emails, etc all the signs of a badly controlled abstinence of my BlackBerry. I would be tempted to say I am desperate. I guess I will have to do other drugs now :)

Shovel

Red door

Why...

... is so difficult to return to work after a 5-day break?
Struggling here...

Google Wave

Just got an invitation for google wave. What a great concept. Just started a couple waves with co-workers and other people to test. Real-time editing for documents among several people. Impressive.

Saturday

Still recovering. Slowly. Temperatures have finally dropped. It is a chilly wind outside, as soon as it blows on the skin it feels that is cutting it. I would have to admit, it is cold. The sun is shining but not enough to warm-up. It is, however, a perfect day (and light) to go out and snap some pictures.

Just because I love diving...

Just realized that this post was not published as expected.
This video shows why diving is so amazing. The interaction with nature and sea life that you normally don't see and even know about it. Just outstanding. There are two goals that I still need to accomplish with diving and are somewhat shown in this video:
1 - Dive with a rebreather. Want to go deeper. Right now I normally stay around 150ft. The possibility of going deeper is just impressive. We are talking about 10hr dives with the re-breather;
2 - Dive with white sharks in South Africa. Open water dive - not cage dive. This one I hope to accomplish soon.

Once, and unexpectedly, I saw a couple sharks. My buddy and I were at approximately 125ft. We had to stay on the bottom longer and I ran out of oxygen. We ended up buddy breathing. They finally left and we surfaced. Was a very good experience I must admit, but somewhat scary.

Sixth Sense

Simply amazing

Um sorriso...

... neste dia fisicamente complicado e em recuperacao de uma noite fora do comum, houve algo que me fez sorrir. Descobri, por mero acaso, que vou no mesmo voo, de regresso a Lisboa, que uma blogger com quem tenho trocado alguns emails. A vida tem interessantes coincidencias...

Peru... ou nao

Ainda a recuperar de uma noite de loucos... Thanksgiving com Ham (nao turkey) que estava uma delicia... excesso de alcool, cigarros e afins. Pessoas a entrarem e a sair do meu loft sem que eu soubesse muito bem de onde vinham e quem eram. Os vizinhos do predio em frente a fazerem-se convidados e a trazer mais delicioso vinho. Enfim. Hoje acordei e pensei que uma breve revolucao tinha acontecido aqui. Acho que vou sentar-me no sofa e esperar que um milagre aconteca para limpar o loft...

Relaxing...

Steps

Paddling sunset

Relaxing

Gear

underwater experience

Definitely not my best picture :) Still learning underwater photography, but always an amazing experience. Just one of the amazing stingrays. I also dove with turtles. Was pretty awesome to be at 30m (100ft) and suddenly see a turtle just next to me. I followed her for about 5 minutes (was running out of air!). Only downside was that I did not have film on my camera :o

Sunset @ Grand Cayman

Sunset

Sailor

Sailing. I love sailing. Honestly, I like almost any water related activity (i.e., sailing, scuba diving, surfing, rowing, etc.). I was fortunate enough to have tried most of them. One of the best things of living in NYC is that you can find pretty much anything you want. And why not to go sail after a busy day? Around 6PM there we go. Out to the Hudson to enjoy a nice breeze. It just gets so peaceful that you seem to forget the rush of the "city". Just another amazing day.

Woolworth Building

More info: Woolworth Building

Antique Garage

Num dos meus passeios pela cidade deparei-me com este restaurante. Dei uma espreitadela lá para dentro. Uma decoração interessante, um ambiente calmo e descontraído. A comida, essa, parecia deliciosa. Não tinha papel nem caneta, nem mesmo o meu telemovel para tomar nota, assim decidi tirar uma foto para me lembrar do nome. Dois dias a seguir lá fui experimentar a comida num "Sunday Brunch". Conclusão: recomendo :)




Antique Garage Restaurant
41 Mercer St, New York, NY‎
(212) 219-1019‎

SoHo

Sorry for the yellow hat

Peace

Off we go!

Waterfall

Flam, NO

Top of the World

Wonderful view from this place (Preikestolen, NO). Could be more peaceful if less people around. A great place to base jump :)

Preikestolen, NO

Stavanger, NO

Floien, Bergen, NO

Royal "Castle"

Olso

The "famous" Opera House in Oslo. A wonderful building - inside and outside. Amazing view from the top of it.

Traveling

E assim começaram as férias. Aeroporto. Atraso atrás de atraso. É o que faz viver numa cidade com trovoadas constantes durante o verão. Contudo, foram umas férias magnificas. O País surpreendeu-me pela positiva. Ainda melhor do que já imaginava. Magnifico.

Sunset @ 35,000 ft

The Best

Speed

Storm

Breathing

Sleeping

Emptiness...

"E"

Dvorak

Crash

Colgate

NJ

Window...

yoga