The Newsroom

By the time this gets posted, we'll be on our way to Manitoba for two weeks of R&R at the lake. In other words, I'm going to be largely without Internet for a while and even if I have it somewhere, posting here is not going to be a priority.

Confirmed: All 6 Star Wars Movies to be Released in 3D I love the Star Wars movies ... I really do ... but do we really need ANOTHER version?

At first glance, it looks like the old Pride Fighting Championship title belts. Pretty cool! EDIT: The more I look at this belt, the more I think it was a Triple-H custom WWE title belt that got modified to be the new ECW belt by adding a relief plate. It has that whole Iron Cross motif going that matches Hunter's merchandising. FURTHER EDIT: The WWE has got great photos of it up here.

The WWE unveiled a new ECW title belt tonight. This is the only picture I can find right now. UPDATE: A couple better pictures can be found here .

"john cena what protein powder is good"

I tried the new Facebook look last night. It was ... OK. I wasn't blown away by it, but I didn't hate it. It's going to take some getting used to. Facebook gets a facelift Reuters SAN FRANCISCO Edmonton Journal 22 Jul 2008 Facebook Inc. is making sweeping changes to the world’s largest social networking site, aiming to give users more control and to curb new forms of spam, company officials say. Facebook’s redesign aims to make user profiles more dynamic by giving more... read more... Related: MySpace eyes Facebook addicts MySpace trying to woo advertisers with interactive promotions Tech Tags: Edmonton Journal newspaper BUSINESS

It was a year ago this past Saturday that we left for Hawaii. What a great vacation!

His belts are awl the rage | www.azstarnet.com ® A nice article on Reggie Parks, one of the belt makers for UFC and the former WWF belt maker. There's a video up, too that's really good.

My wife and I decided this morning to join the Cult of The Running Room and take a running class when we return from our summer vacation. So the plan is to take the introductory "Learn to Run" class together. Yes, I run - but I suck at running outdoors. I can only run on a treadmill. I'm hoping this class will show me how to run outside properly. And my lovely wife does not run, so this is a chance to do something together. Updates to follow, assuming we go through with this crazy plan.

And this fits the bill just fine. more cat pictures

Here's my site stats for the last week or so in terms of Google searches leading to my page: 32% wwe divas belt 20% wwe diva belt 11% divas belt 6% new wwe divas belt 5% wwe divas title belt 5% wwe divas championship belt 3% new wwe diva belt 3% elitexc belt 2% starfield abbotsford 2% wwe diva's belt 2% wwe new diva belt 2% wwe new divas belt 2% amanda falk 2% wwe wrestlemania 24 aspect problems 2% reign in me song starfield 2% bret hart and cheating on his wife 2% michael jenkinson In short, the new WWE Divas belt is responsible for nearly 90% of my total Google search hits since it debuted on Smackdown a couple of weeks ago. I think the WWE has a winner, if the Internet traffic it's generating is any indication.

That homemade protein bar that I provided the recipe for here is even better if you crush up some peanuts in it and then roll it in crushed peanuts before wrapping it in plastic wrap. It's like an Eatmore bar.

This is a weird one . Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, former light heavyweight champion of the Ultimate Fighter Championships, was arrested on suspicion of felony evading, hit-and-run and reckless driving Tuesday after he allegedly led police on a pursuit from Costa Mesa to Newport Beach, police said Click the link for the full story.

I'd love to have one of these computer-enabled treadmills in my office ... although I wonder if I could walk and type at the same time. Oh, and my weight was back to 178 lbs today. Guess I was retaining water or something yesterday. So I feel better. Walking workstations move into offices Edmonton Journal 15 Jul 2008 Can sedentary office workers multitask their way to a healthier lifestyle? The maker of a new product that combines a treadmill and computer workstation is banking on the notion that companies will invest in products like the “Walkstation” as a way of... read more... Tech Tags: Edmonton Journal newspaper BODY & HEALTH

I weighed myself this morning and came in at 181 lbs., which is surprising (and infuriating) considering a) I was 178 lbs. and change on SATURDAY! b) I haven't exactly been gorging myself on bad food. c) I ran 5K on Saturday, then walked 2.5 miles back from the car-repair shop, and then walked 4 miles on Sunday morning. Yes, I know that a person's weight can vary quite a bit depending on things like hydration levels, but a 2.5+ lbs. variation in 48 hours isn't exactly what I wanted to see.

Gas in Edmonton: $1.31 Gas in Caroline, Alberta: $1.26

As regular followers of this blog are aware (read: there is perhaps one person in the world who has been following The Newsroom that closely in the last 11 years), I used to weigh about 220 lbs. and worked my way down to an almost slim-and-trim 172 lbs. a few years ago. (I once weighed 155 lbs. as a fully-grown adult, but that was due to a weird combination of eating nothing but fried chicken all summer while working at KFC while in high school and biking 14 miles a day to and from work. It was a precursor of the Atkins diet.) Anyway ... over the last few years, I've kept my weight anywhere between 175 lbs. and 178 lbs., which wasn't bad, although my long-term goal has always been to get south of 170 lbs. again. This past winter, my weight kept creeping up over the 180 lbs. mark mainly due to my older daughter playing indoor soccer nine nights a week, which kept me out of the gym. So I've made a renewed effort this summer to get my weight down. I've returned to the gym

But after seeing the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, I may start.

Jumping the shark has jumped the shark .

The new Batman movie hasn't even opened yet, but already the late Health Ledger is being touted for a posthumous Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the Joker. Well, I'd like to start an Oscar nomination bandwagon myself: Wall-E for Best Picture. Not Best Animated Picture, but Best Picture, period. Wall-E for Best Picture. Let's make it happen.

Two things on Sunday afternoon: I took the family to see Wall-E this afternoon, and it was great. This might be Pixar's first "adult" film in the sense that it was a far more simple, yet sophisticated, story than they usually do. It was a sad comedy if that makes any sense. Excellent movie. My older daughter got 15 minutes of fame today when her video of hail pouring down on our deck made the Weather Network this morning. Good for her! Edit: Video added ...

Public Service Announcement: U.S. Travelers Lose 12,000 Laptops Every Week Funny story about absent-minded folks at airports who somehow manage to lose hundreds of thousands of laptops every year. But the highlight of this story is actually in the comments section, where one person suggests the obvious: Go to an airport lost and found claiming you lost a laptop and describe any common brand. Chances are, they'll have it in their inventory of lost computers.

It's UFC PPV night, so here's my semi-regular public service posting on where to watch UFC pay-per-views in Edmonton .

The talk of the Internet Wrestling Community (tm) is the new WWE Divas title belt that debuts on Smackdown tonight. Unsurprisingly, everyone seems to hate it . But, look ... the WWE has discovered that replica championship belts are a big source of merchandising revenue. This design is going to sell bucketloads of toy belts to 12-year-old girls who love John Cena but don't want to buy a spinner belt because it's a "boy's" title. And, frankly, I don't hate this design. It's strange for a championship belt, that's for sure. But at least it doesn't spin.

Winning to be emphasized - Edmonton Journal sports section headline this morning

Two of the hundreds of "wild" rabbits that roam the Dinosaur RV Campground in Drumheller, where we spent the long weekend. And some photos from the camping trip:

OK, so that's not the most original headline in the world. But I go away for four days to go camping, and when I come back, C.M. Punk is the World champion on Raw. Huh. Well, chalk that up as a surprise. But the new guys have to get elevated eventually, so I'm not unhappy about this development.