The Italian Piper

The sounds of bagpipes were always a pleasant sound to me since I was real young. I never put much thought into how one learns the pipes other than it was more of a cultural thing passed down from generation to generation. In speaking with my buddy Dirty Copper taking up the pipes is not as complicated a task as I thought, meaning I don’t have to fly to Scotland for lessons once a week. Don’t get me wrong you still have to practice and put your time in just as learning any instrument but it is definitely obtainable. And thankfully there is only one octave.


Once I researched bag piping equipment I knew I was getting ready to pursue another instrument. This time instead of rocking out in a cover band till the wee morning hours I will be playing bagpipes at funerals, weddings and if I join a band, parades which is a little different venue than I was playing at approximately eight years ago. That’s okay, 2009 was a great branching out year for me when I joined Saint Mary’s Schola Cantorum (Gregorian Chant Choir) and in 2010 I will branch out a little further taking up bagpipes.


In mid November I received my practice chanter which is the first piece of equipment you purchase when just learning bagpipes. The only problem was my instructional book and cd were on backorder so I had to rely on my intrinsic musical skills plus a quick video on YouTube to give it a whirl. WOW, I had no idea what I was doing. My kids quickly wanted to give daddy a music lesson on how to play so they grabbed their recorders (another type of woodwind musical instrument) and started to show me what I was doing wrong. I really didn’t need them to show me I was a novice. It was clearly the sound of a dying duck in my living room which came from the practice chanter that gave me the slightest hint I needed severe help. Thankfully I play in my basement for my neighbor’s sake. I wish my chanter came with an aspirin because after about ten to fifteen minutes of trying to produce a melodic sound I got a crushing headache. The next day I hit the internet in search of bag pipe instructions to hold me over until I got my cd and book.


Now that I am about three weeks into practicing to become a bagpiper I must say I am having fun. It is different from playing bass guitar which is what I used to play but I will certainly be back doing what I enjoy most (except spending time with my kids), and that is playing an instrument. I am glad it takes about a year to learn the fundamentals of bag piping because it will take me that long to save for a set of pipes as well as the full set of highland wear. I also want to break my youngest daughter in slowly that daddy will be wearing a kilt. I can only imagine what her reaction will be when she sees me in full garb. Time will tell.

I Am A Loser

First off I want to congratulate all of my co-workers who entered the “Biggest Loser” contest. Any amount of weight that was lost during this contest is an accomplishment. It just shows you can do anything you set your mind to. So for that I think everyone should be proud of themselves for losing whatever percentage of weight they lost over those six weeks of torture.

This was the second time my coworkers decided to attempt this contest, my first. I did not enter the first contest due to the fact I didn’t want to lose any weight at that time. About four months before the second contest started I decided to put myself on high protein diet. I increased my protein intake daily and changed my weight training routine from a more toned routine to a muscle building routine. This steered me away from my cardio routine, as I needed to focus more of my energy to lifting weights five days a week. After a short period of time I started to pack on the weight. I found that I did not feel comfortable and that I preferred my cardio routine maintaining muscle tone instead of muscle building. This is why I decided to enter the contest. I figured being challenged to lose weight would get me back on my cardio track and maintain a normal weight for my comfort zone. There were other perks of entering the contest such as the competition and the cash prize. I enjoy good competition and being the biggest loser was my motivation. The first place winner received seventy five percent of the prize money and second place twenty five percent. Not a bad purse right before the holidays.

For those who thought I was not overweight and had no reason entering this contest my initial weight was 227.2 lbs. This is well over my BMI (body mass index weight), which should be in the 180 lb. range. People think I carry my weight well but my answer to that is I wear baggy clothes. So this is why I wanted to shed a few pounds especially before the holidays.

The contest stretched over a six-week period. As I mentioned in my blog “One Pork Chop” I used the first week to slowly wean myself off the junk food. At the start of the second week I geared into cruise control. I was doing cardio six days a week. I even stopped lifting weights for the six weeks as I did not want muscle to weigh me down. I bought a big steamer pot. I was eating better than Jack Lalanne. I didn’t even eat half of an M&M. I steamed chicken, fish and vegetables. At first steamed food wasn’t bad, in fact, I was having fun experimenting on how to make steamed food taste good. After a short time I knew I was not going to be successful in flavoring steamed food without adding calories. At that point I knew I had to take one day at a time and that it was going to get tough. I am a firm believer in eating small meals throughout the day, approximately five to six meals a day. My meals included fruits, vegetables, steamed chicken/fish and egg whites. I continued this for the next five weeks, which brought me to the end of the contest. I have to tell you, the toughest days were the last two. I felt like I saw more good food in those two days than in the entire six weeks of the contest. I never wanted to rush a weekend as much as the last one. The weigh in was Monday morning and once I weighed in I felt relieved it was finally over. I was then ready for the holiday menu.

In conclusion I must say this had to be one of the hardest things I was ever involved with. If this was the first time I tried to lose a substantial amount of weight I am not sure I would have been as successful but being that this is the fourth time losing forty pounds and more, experience was on my side. I’ve been called many things in my life but being called a loser never sounded so good. Remember, you can do anything!!