I have a confession to make. I did not do my walking program yesterday. The plan called for warmup, body shaping exercises and warmdown. Most of the body shaping exercises were not a good idea for me, I have a really bad knee, so rather than finding an alternative I just worked through my lunch hour. Bad, bad idea – it made me feel like such a slug loser! Next time I’ll do a warmup and then 30 min of yoga for body shaping purposes.

Today was another 20 min interval session. I worked in Seattle today so got some activity just walking to the office – and sprint walking, as I was late, back to the ferry in the evening. I did walk my 20 min too, but I have to admit I’m not working the intervals very hard. City blocks lend themselves to that type of training, though, you can sprint walk one block and rest walk the next couple.

I’m wondering if I don’t need to repeat week one a third time next week, just to build more of an endurance base. I’ll see how I feel on Monday.

A while back Jeri pointed out a posting on the Beast Mom blog about movies that make guys cry, to which I did post a comment. It got me thinking about what were my favorite movies. So that’s what this is about.

First off, before I list them, I have to say that this is not the list of what I think are the best movies of all time. These are movies for which I have a personal affinity, which I enjoy as favorites, warts and all. Citizen Kane didn’t make the list (yes I’ve seen it). I don’t know that any of these movies would qualify for a greatest-of-all-time list (I suspect a couple would, you can pick which ones), but since any such “greatest” list is subjective to one degree or another anyway, I don’t care.

Second, and on the other hand, this isn’t a guilty pleasure list either. In their own ways, I think each of these movies has merit beyond just “stuff I like”. I could make a guilty pleasure list, for sure, and a couple of these might make it. There are scores of movies that if I’m flicking the clicker and they happen to be on, I’ll watch them because they are goofy fun. Example: there’s a football movie called Necessary Roughness made in the mid-90s that is a farcical hoot – to me. Most would find it just annoying. I like it. And since supermodel Kathy Ireland was the team’s kicker, you can’t make me not like it. So there.

Finally, I considered an honorable mention addition, but that’s a cop out in the end. Someone (likely Jeri) will remind me of one or more gems I like that I forgot, and I’ll be chagrined, but I’ll get over it. Sorry My Cousin Vinny, Independence Day, Amadeus, Ghandi, The Last Emperor, Notting Hill, Schindler’s List, blah blah blah…crap, there I go.

Enough exposition, let’s go to the list, which, by the way, goes to 11 (no, Spinal Tap isn’t on the list, but you SHOULD get the reference). It’s not in any order, either.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. So why this one over the other two, particularly the last one (The Return of the King) which got the Oscar? Well, this is a sort of special-meaning-to-me thing. I’ve loved the Lord of the Rings since high school. I had a friend named Mark who was an even bigger fan that I was. He desperately wanted the books to be made into a live action movie (there were a couple of animation attempts that sucked). When I saw this movie, I couldn’t help but think of Mark, with whom I have lost contact, and say to myself, “yeah, Mark, it took ‘em 20+ years, but they got it right, by god”. And it is right. The effects are awesome, the acting is special, it’s all there. Ian McKellen is Gandalf — almost as if he’d risen out the pages the way I imagined him to be — and he should have gotten the Oscar for it.

STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. I’m a big Trekkie, have been forever. Of the ST movies, this one always seemed to have the most heart to me, the best scenery chewing by both William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban, and of course the really touching Spock death scene, followed by the equally touching funeral. Plot holes, logic holes, etc. abound, but this one has more human interest than about six of the other ST movies combined. It’s fun to see Montalban shed the Latin lover slickness of his early career and white suit graciousness of Fantasy Island’s Mr. Rourke to be a really bad, obsessed, villain. Fun.

A FEW GOOD MEN. Ah, Jeri is giggling at me already. It cracks her up that I’ll watch this movie over and over. But really, what’s not to like? Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise going toe-to-toe in a courtroom drama? Forget about it, it’s gold. Jeri will tell you I am a huge Cruise apologist. To me, he does something not many actors of his generation have done, and that is, pair off with the greatest actors of the generations before him and go right head to head with them. Think about it, not just this movie, but Rain Man (Hoffman), The Color of Money (Newman), The Firm (Hackman), even the laughable Days of Thunder had Duvall in it. I like this one for how quotable it is, (“You can’t handle the truth!”) and for the message it conveys about honor. This also is the first of a pattern here…that in spite of the fact that I don’t generally like lawyer movies, TV shows or novels, there are three such on this list. That surprised me.

THE GODFATHER. “What is it about guys and The Godfather?” Meg Ryan asks Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail. Well, it has some of the greatest actors of several generations in a cool, violent but emotionally interesting gangster movie. It’s quotable: “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse”, “It’s just business, not personal”. It’s Marlon Brando’s pinnacle and Al Pacino’s start. It looks and feels as real as a movie can look and feel, there’s no pretty boy preening. You root for Diane Keeton’s Kay to get together with Pacino’s Michael while silently thinking she ought to run for the hills. Duvall’s unflagging loyal Tom, the stepson not quite trusted because he’s not Sicilian. The pot full of bubbling violence that is James Caan’s Sonny. I don’t watch it over and over, but I see something new every time, and it usually is something that impresses me.

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. So Jeri, Zach and I are sitting eating dinner a while back, and I don’t remember what started it, but Zach and I started quoting this movie back-and-forth to each other to the point of driving Jeri insane. How cool is that? To me, this is the Python’s stellar effort. You have to watch this movie closely to catch all the funny stuff happening all around the main dialog and shooting. This movie would be the perfect screwball comedy but for the really odd non-ending of an ending – which I am sure was the point.

JAWS. Caught this one again (or at least parts of it) recently. What’s so cool to me about this one is the second half of the movie, where it’s just Robert Shaw’s Quint, Roy Scheider’s Brody, and Richard Dreyfuss’s Hooper, out on the water, taking on the shark. Three totally different characters, in totally different places in their lives, with a common goal: kill the damn beast, and don’t get dead doing it. Quint wants revenge, Brody wants to protect his town, and Hooper wants mostly just to see the monster as a scientist. Quint’s telling of the story of the USS Indianapolis during this part of the movie is just about one of the most riveting things I can ever remember in a movie, it makes his character’s motivation real, and understandable. You can see the master Spielberg would become, born here.

THE PRINCESS BRIDE. You know, I remember seeing this movie not long after it came out, and sort of thinking, “eh, ok movie”. Then several years ago my company put me in some management training, and this movie came up for reasons I honestly don’t remember, but it was discussed with such fondness, I decided to take another look. I watched it again, and again, and again, and it grows on me every single time. Why in the world this movie isn’t thought of as great is beyond me. It’s cute, it’s funny, it’s smart. The dialog crackles. When Rob Reiner gets a script like this, he makes the absolute most of it. Even what in most movies would be the throwaway narration scenes between Peter Falk and Fred Savage are gold. You won’t get this unless you watch the movie for the first time or again, but I can’t say, or even think of, the words “mostly” and “inconceivable” without thinking about this movie, and grinning.

THE VERDICT. Of the movies on this list, I’ve probably seen this one the least, and I don’t own a copy. It’s a lawyer movie, which I usually don’t like, notwithstanding A Few Good Men, because the inaccuracies of a Hollywood version of a legal proceeding drive me nuts. So why’s it on the list? Paul Newman, in what has to be, to me, his most interesting character and portrayal: totally flawed, but digging for that last shot at redemption and honor in a story brave enough, in spite of all the screw-ups he commits, to let him get it in the end. Some actors wouldn’t have taken this role, but I would guess Newman jumped at it to prove himself. That he did.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. You know what, I’m not going to continue to wax poetic about Newman here, though he is, of course, awesome in what is mostly a comedy role, a long ways away from The Verdict. No, the key to this movie for me is really Robert Redford’s Sundance. Why? Because all of Newman’s Butch’s wisecracks don’t mean diddly without Redford’s straight man delivery, full of slow burns and high frustration at Butch dropping them into another mess. As a result, I end up laughing more at Redford in this one than Newman. Any time Redford just squints at Newman, it cracks me up.

THE RIGHT STUFF. This is long movie that to me doesn’t seem all that long. It’s a historical movie, a genre that I like sometimes and find really boring other times. This one doesn’t bore me because the acting is great, it has a sense of humor. The dialog is good, and quotable to boot: “Don’t screw the pooch” “No bucks, no Buck Rogers” and one line that never fails to crack me up: Wernher von Braun, the German scientist working in the American space program, trying to reassure his new government that the U.S. would beat the Russians in the space race because “our Germans are better than their Germans”. Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid and Sam Shepard are all great.

STAR WARS. In the pantheon of fantasy universes, the Star Wars universe is probably the best solely created on film. I consider it much more fantasy than science fiction because of its themes and sensibilities. The movie deserves mention to me for its sheer cultural impact as much as anything. The first movie in the series is the best for the memories it brings: how bad I wanted to see it over a summer spent with relatives in Missouri, my dad taking me to it in St. Louis, him falling asleep while I was totally rapturously absorbed in it, me getting to brag to my friends in Alaska that I got to see it before it played up there. Another fun thing: taking Zach and Ben to see them, “on the big screen” – where they belonged – when they were re-released years later.

I have joined Jen and her friends on the Prevention four-week walking challenge. I’m not actually sure that they call it a challenge – but it is one to me!

Today is my third day… for the second time. I’ve been doing this a week, but I’m repeating the first few days because I’m starting this program from a pretty sedentary, unfit perspective.

Today’s workout was a five minute low intensity warmup, with 20 minutes of interval walking, and five minutes of cooldown. The interval walking helps boost the intensity and build speed – alternating repeating cycles of a couple of minutes of high intensity walking with a few minutes of moderate exertion walking (they call it ‘active rest’).

First, just dragging my chunky butt down the road at all is a notable level of exertion for me. It’ll get easier but I suspect that it won’t be quite the aggressive progression that Prevention outlines.

Second, it was 85 in the sun today on my lunch break, hotter than usual and definitely added to the exertion level.

Third, I live pretty much on the side of a fjord – a ridge of hills that wraps around Liberty Bay. There is just not much walking I can do without hitting some significant hill action! Walking rolling hills could be a form of interval training – but our hills don’t roll, they just go straight up and down – it’s a mile of steady downhill to the main road, and another half mile even steeper grade down to the waterfront and marinas. The other direction is gradual uphill, with only a block more sidewalk before the road narrows to country back road, at 45mph and no shoulders. Today I went several blocks downhill at about the halfway point – and had to climb those several blocks back up at the end of my walk. Embarrassing, I needed to stop and pant a couple of times, it was a lot of work.

I actually would like to get my bike back out and ride it as an alternate exercise, but again, those darn hills are an obstacle! They’re a lot harder to bike up than walk up. I can’t find a flat, five-mile stretch with shoulders or bike paths within about 20 miles of my home – and I’m sure not taking the bike down the big hill! I’d be calling the hub for a ride back up.

Fourth, my doggies would love to go on a walk with me but, as Jen mentioned, they are distractible and don’t help the aerobic part. Two of my three desperately want to walk with me. They pull like miniature sled dogs and don’t walk well together. If I could take just one it might work, but the other would break down the door in desperation to get out with me too. So… I’ve given up and walk without them.

All that said, I’ve been walking for a week. I’m pretty pleased at that and plan to keep it up, rain or shine, and see how it impacts my energy level, mood and weight.

Thanks for the inspiration, Jen! Anyone else want to join us?

So after two fairly lackluster, but successful, home pre-season games, Jeri and I went to the first Seahawks regular-season game on Sunday. Seattle won, after a very slow start, 20-6, over Tampa Bay. Tampa has had a rough time since they won a Super Bowl a few years back, and they seemed pretty mediocre on both sides of the ball, particularly on defense.

The Seahawks, meantime, were really sluggish on offense for about the first quarter and a half, and then seemed to get it together. The defense looked awesome, hitting very hard, and in particular Lofa Tatupu and Julian Peterson were flying around like madmen, laying the hurt on anyone they made contact with in orange and pewter.

Surprising to me was the wholesale grumbling from the home crowd, mostly directed at Shaun Alexander, who started very slowly but ended up with over 100 yards and a touchdown. Shaun does seem to avoid hits on occasion, in one case, facing a mere defensive back, instead of running the guy over he fell down. That stuff gets the crowd unhappy. Still, it’s the first game, and he definitely is not as strong after the injury he had last year – yet.

Also fun: for the first time I’ve ever seen, the referee called a “do-over”. During a Tampa punt, when a “loud whistle” (per the ref) from the stands faked the punter into believing the play had been blown dead by the officials (so he stopped and got wrapped up on the spot), the ref let Tampa re-do the play. This provoked a whole lot of jokes for the remainder of the game about loud (or large) whistles from the group of fans around our seats.

Next up: the Mighty Blue Men head to Arizona to play the Cardinals; once again, as with every year of that team’s mostly miserable existence, supposedly “much improved”. However, as my favorite NFL columnist Gregg Easterbrook of ESPN.com calls them, they remain the “Arizona (Caution: may contain a football-like substance) Cardinals”, having lost Monday night to San Francisco.

Saturday we went up to the Port Townsend Wooden Boats Festival. It was fascinating – sail and power boats of all shapes and sizes. Some were a century old, some new. Some were 10′ long – and some 100′ long. Several were handmade, and many were hand-restored. As one of the articles in the program said – at some point you have to decide whether you want to sail or work on your boat!

It was a spectacular day – it probably hit 80 degrees, it was breezy and brilliantly sunny. I was reminded of Toto’s Southern Cross… “I have my ship, and all her flags are a-flying.”

The Schooner Martha took festival-goers out on free sails throughout the day. We didn’t get there in time to get on the list, but admired her from shore.

Bryan and I found a fairly unusual custom boat that fits perfectly with his Star Trek fan status!

The water was full of boats – hundreds of them, from horizon to horizon. A Port Townsend traffic jam is certainly different than Monday morning on the I5!