100 Days

I’m not sure how totally lame it is that any decently written movie can turn me into a reflective bastard.

At the same time, I’m pretty sure it is really lame that whenever this happens (By the way, I just got done watching She’s the One on HBO and yeah, I am in one of those moods.) I immediately start listening to lame hippie music. So here I am, basking in the melancholy of a well-written dramedy that was made 10 years ago and starred Ed Burns and I am listening to the Dave Matthews Band cover of Long Black Veil. Up next is #41, then Granny, then Pig, then Lie in our Graves. And if I am not done with this post by that point, I will probably go to Two Step, Grace is Gone and then whatever sad bastard songs the Dave Matthews Band has come up with.

Even in inspired times I am hopelessly uncool. I’m not even asking for good taste in music, I am asking for current taste in music. It is all I can do to not pull out Blues Traveler’s Save His Soul and think about all the girls that rejected me in high school.

So anyway, sad bastard Dave Matthews music is the soundtrack for this post, which promises to be incredibly long.

Why? Well, I am answering questions and comments today. Before I have even written a single answer, the word total on this is 1,400.

So let’s not waste any more time.

From: Bryce
You should cut coupons. Seriously. I've become a bit of a coupon addict in the past few months. You'd be amazed at how much money you can save when buying groceries. I know this doesn't sound like a Dan Nied type of activity since it requires some forethought and organization.

Buy a Sunday paper and look through all the coupons for things you eat or might be interested in eating. Then, get a sale paper for the grocery store you shop at. The local Wal-Mart I believe.

Try to find some items that are on sale and that you have a coupon for. This will maximize your savings. At my local grocer (Giant Eagle) they do what is called the "Super Double". This is when they take your coupons up to a $1.00 and double the value of it. I actually get things for free quite often. Last time I went to the store my bill went from $88 to $59 after the coupons where scanned. Anyway, just an idea to save some money. It really doesn't take that much effort, just a little planning.

No, cutting coupons is certainly not a “Dan Nied type of activity” And thanks, Bryce for insulting me while reading my blog. That makes me feel good about the friends I’ve picked for myself. In actuality though, you prick, that sounds like a good idea. However, the reason I don’t cut coupons is because I live in this town. I’m not saying there aren’t any available coupons for Wal-Mart, I just haven’t seen them. When I move closer to civilization, I will certainly look into the idea. Wal-Mart does not advertise in our paper because they don’t care about local businesses. In fact, it seems like their main goal is to destroy local businesses. (Quick story here: From what I am told, before I got here, our paper busted Wal-Mart for a very devious act. Apparently, they putting up a toy donation box outside their store one Christmas. So while people were shopping, they would buy these cheap toys for poor kids and donate them on the way out. Well, apparently, once the people donated their toy and left the parking lot, Wal-Mart employees would put the toys back on the shelves so they could be sold again. Now, this is just hearsay, but I believe it.)

From: John
Dan why did Heritage Newspapers fire you? Perhaps you could tell us some of those insightful anecdotes next? Your career roller coaster will perhaps help us understand why you are you are here today.

Heritage Newspapers didn’t really fire me. Technically, they laid me off. What happened was this: It was my first job out of college and I worked for 10 months total for two of their newspapers. First, I worked in the news department of a paper in Dearborn, Mich.

Then, since I really wanted to be a sportswriter, I took a pay cut to get that job at a smaller paper they owned. About seven months into that second gig, the president of the company came down to visit and tell us that they were eliminating the editorial sections and turning the paper into a shopper, which means it is nothing but adds.

They kept the staff photographer for some reason. Then there were three of us in editorial. The other two were the editor and a staff reporter. The editor moved to another paper as the business editor, I believe. The staff writer took a similar position at the same paper the editor was reassigned to. They told me that they didn’t have any sports openings at any other paper, gave me two weeks severance, some unemployment forms and a pat on the back.

Apparently they had forgotten that I was a pretty decent news reporter for the company for about three months. It doesn’t matter, though. In the exit meeting, I left with a great big smile on my face. I was still a cocky youngster and thought I would find a better job very quickly. However, I can’t say I blamed them for letting me go. I might have been a decent writer and I may have done a pretty good job for them, but I was arrogant and had a bad attitude. I resented the fact that I had to start at a weekly paper and work my way up. I spoke my mind at the wrong times and to the wrong people. If I was them, I would have let me go, too.

Unfortunately, that layoff led to a year of temp work and freelance jobs. It was the worst time of my life, I can safely say. It was a harsh slap in the face for a guy less than a year removed from being a star on his college newspaper.

Not to make this story longer, but I have to mention this. No matter how much I complain about my current job, I have to say that I am incredibly grateful for this situation I am in. Two years ago I was about as close to depressed as I could get, and now I at least have some sort of stability. So I am appreciative. About a month after I began here, my publisher invited me to his house for Thanksgiving dinner. Before dinner everyone at the table said what they were thankful for. I swear to God I said: “I am thankful for this paper and the people here who gave me the opportunity to work again.”

I wasn’t even sucking up, either.

From: Cara
My very wonderful friend Jennifer Klein recommended that I check your blog out, so I've been following it pretty steadily for the past two and a half months. Very inspirational- hell, it has even convinced me to make quite a few changes.

My older sister, who lost 85 lbs, said that the most difficult part of losing weight was changing her self perception - altering your mindset and insecurities to realize you are no longer "the fat kid." Sounds like you are already on your way to changing your perspective.

Congrats on the progress thus far and keep it up!

Thanks Cara. I hope I can at least entertain you every day. Thanks also to Jenn Klein for spreading word of mouth. I still feel like the fat kid, by the way, but at 286, I still kinda am.

From: John
Hey Dan,
Good job so far but what you’re doing is still NOT healthy. Sunshine and I watched Oprah and then a program on discovery health about a doctor who wrote a book called "YOU: The Owner's Manual" By Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz

It tells you how to live a better life and how to grow old in a healthy way. The first step is eating right. If you have Discovery health look for the show called the same as the books title. We watched it and have decided to completely change our eating habits. It was scary what these processed foods do to your insides. They had graphic examples of organs healthy and not healthy side by side. The basic concept is this: minimum 30 minutes of walking every day, 60 minutes of sweating every week, and 30 minutes of weight training. On top of that do NOT eat food if it has these things in the top 5 ingredients:

Partially Hydroganiated Oils, Enriched Flour or anything enriched, High Frutcose Corn Syrup, Salt, Sugar

You should STAY away from these as much as possible. I can tell you more if you are interested but you will be amazed at the bad ingredients in everything you are eating. Just take a look at your bread. Mine had all of them in the top 5! Buy the book Dan it's like 10 bucks and good luck. Love ya dude.!

John, it’s called culture of fear. Get off of it. Maybe what you should do is throw away all the food in your house and get a 100-gallon barrel of plain oatmeal, a measuring cup and a kettle. Just eat that every day for the rest of your life. Then, when you and Sunshine are 130 years old and we are all dead and gone, you can sit there on your front porch and say “I’m glad we listened to Oprah.”

From: Michelle
What about trying Weight Watchers? It truly works, and it's not so much a diet as a change of habits. You wouldn't have to actually go to the meetings (although you COULD end up meeting girls there), but read up on how to figure the points and aim for a set number every day. You can eat anything you want, as long as you stay within your point range. It isn't rocket science - the internet is really helpful with the point thing.

Good suggestion, but probably not for me. Just like Bryce’s South Beach Diet suggestion, it is certainly worth a look. But at this point, I will stick with the diet on which I lost 85 pounds. Still, Weight Watchers has done some great things to help people and certainly their results should not be taken lightly. But in the end, all these diets involve simply cutting calories.

From: Eric Berlin
Re: Bulemia
Dan - You should seriously see a doctor ASAP, man, from what I understand the area you're getting into can be quite dangerous.

From: Vicki
Dan, keep them fingers away from your throat - your teeth will lose the enamel and then the new skinny you won’t be able to smile at the girls cause they will look shit. Keep up with the weightloss and leave bulemia behind you.

True, true. The fingers haven’t gone to the throat in a long time. I like my teeth too much.

From: Some dude
I lose weight quickly too. I don't think it's a big deal, the heavier you are, the quicker it falls. It will slow down the lighter you get. I say 'nay' on the whole bulimic thing I'd rather be fat than dead...but hey, that's just me

From: Jake
I'd rather be dead than fat.

Jake always has to get his comment in. He hates fat people. Anyway, I totally agree. A lot of people are incredibly impressed with how fast I can lose weight. I’ve actually had 130 pound women get jealous of me. But you know what? I had 85 pounds to lose. And you know what? I still have 45 more to lose. According to the online calorie per day calculater, which can be found Here , I still burn 3,935 calories per day. Meanwhile, a 26-year old woman at 5 foot 6 and 140 pounds who is moderately active burns 2,144 calories per day. So if we both go on a 1,200 calorie per day diet, I will lose weight much more quickly. Why? Because I can. That is about the only advantage life gives fat people.

From: Liz
I want at least five entries a week. Come on, I look forward to them!

Ok, ok. You can have your five entries per week Liz. The three posts per week idea was a little crazy. Basically, I just wanted more freedom in the blog. I didn’t want to feel like I had to post something even if there was nothing to post. I don’t feel that way now

By the way, Dave Matthews and John Popper doing John Lennon’s Imagine is on right now. I may actually pause to belt this one out with the boys. --- Ok, done. Wait, somehow I inadvertently downloaded the Who’s the Boss theme song. While I am a little surprised by that, I can’t say I’m not singing along.

From: Christina
I am currently on diet, and it makes me angry all the time. Also, I went to Divine Child 92-96, I'm sorry I don't remember you.

I am sorry you don’t remember me either. I need a last name here, feel free to email it to me: nieddan@yahoo.com. By the way, I checked out your blog and I like it. Just wanted to let you know.

From: Victor Plenty
Congratulations, Dan! I find it fascinating that your 100 day journey ended so precisely on the target you set for it. You spent months thinking about the number 300, and you got exactly the number 300.

Of course, the target you were thinking about more often than any other was not actually the target you really wanted. This happens to people all the time. To your credit, instead of giving in to disappointment as so many people do, you made an extra effort to hit your readjusted target, and got the results you had truly hoped to see.

Thanks for the good words, Victor. The even numbers were not lost on me, either. It was kind of creepy. But for the record, the final tally was 299.2 on Day 100. But still, that was eerie. I guess 70 pounds in 100 days wasn’t too much to ask.

From: Chantal Stone
As long as you write about it, Dan, we're going to read about it. Keep up the great work!

Chantal, I hope you make the transition from Blog Critics to the actual blog. I hope a lot of the BC readers do.

From: Christina
Hey, some of my favorite people are from Bumfuck Neb. and I love Middle of Nowhere Colo. Seriously, as someone who is forced to spend sometimes a month a year working in farm country in Nebraska, its not that bad. Well, you can mostly get by if you are willing to "appear" to take the strait and narrow. It sucks that one has to do this, but for centuries that has been the strategy of the outsider. I don't think I would want to live there year round, but the people once they get over you being a stranger, are some of the nicest folks. Still, I agree that the politics, priorities, and dental work can be a bit messed up. I love a lot of places in Colorado. Have you ever been to Cortez? The state after my heart is New Mexico. I have to say that although there are crazy people in the West, some towns are full of libertarians, and in these places I get a freeing sense of live and let live.

Here you are again DC alum. Good to hear from you again. Yes, small town America can be charming in small doses, even up to a month. However, live here for 18 months and see if you can find your soul at the end. Granted, I can’t say whether my problems lie in small towns in general or just with this specific one. However, something is not right in this place. Something, in fact, is very wrong. Luckily for me, I’m not going to church on Wednesday’s quite yet, so I don’t think this place is rubbing off on me too much.

As for your other questions, no, I have never been to Cortez, I think it is on the other side of the state. Also, some of my favorite people live here, too. I have few problems with the people I interact with on a daily basis. It’s the peripherals that make my skin crawl. I actually feel less safe in this town than I do walking in downtown Detroit. When I was a kid, we never locked our front door. Now that I live here, I am quite seriously afraid that a meth-mouthed crazy will randomly charge into my apartment and bite my eyeball out.

But then, maybe I am just paranoid.