Dan Nitro Clark

    I’ve seen men hacked up.  I’ve looked evil in the face. I’ve laughed at death. I’ve seen violence brutal, savage, rageful.  But I’ve never seen anything as scary as this.

And I’m a pretty tough guy (well, I used to be) but when I saw this it literally made me freeze, my mouth went bone dry, my stomach dropped to the floor, and I think for a second I actually died.  

It is something so grisly, so heinous, that I cannot describe in words. 

What I saw was this:

BOO-YAH!!!  Now isn’t that scary!  A "NITRO" Halloween costume!!  Forget Mike Myers, Chuck, Jason, or Freddy Krueger.  I can’t imagine any kid, adult or animal not being scared senseless by this costume. The guy who used to play Nitro is a beast!!!  :>

Here’s another funny scary thing called "Monster Baby" on youtube for your enjoyment.  It’s pretty damn funny!Enjoy: MONSTER BABY.

Be safe 2 night!  Remember more trick than treats!!  And everything in moderation!!!

Dan Clark

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  Why are some people healthy, happy, and fit and others are not?  It's simple. There are those who "do" and those who "do not."  It's pretty clear which category the fit people belong in and which those who struggle with obesity fall in.  But the more importantly: Why and how are some people able to stick with programs and others are not?   

Personally, I've been training all of my life and HAVE managed to "stick with it" for over 30 years. What's the secret?  Well, instead of giving you a Top 10 List — which we've all read countless times – I thought it'd be more effective to share with you a "real-life experience" that will illuminate what I think is the absolute best way to stick with any exercise program. 

It started a few months ago when a very good friend of mine (we'll call him Dave) begged me to help him lose weight and start some type of exercise routine.  I hemmed and hawed and was reluctant to because I didn't know how serious he was, but also because I was seriously over-extended and didn't have time to help him. I had just started writing 2 books and was in the beginning of creating a program called "Ten Thousand Pounds" which is my and my partners take on tackling childhood obesity in America.  But Dave wouldn't give up.  He relentlessly hounded me to help him, and it's literally impossible for me to turn down someone (especially a friend) who wants to better their lives by becoming more healthy and fit.

I finally agreed to meet him at the boxing gym a couple days a week at 6:30am — even though it is the absolute "worst time" of the day for me — because I get my most productive writing done in the morning between 6:30am and 1pm.  Normally, I cherish and guard that time with a religious fervor. But I figured if I could make an impact on his life, it'd be worth it. 

Dave started off like gangbusters. In the first month we banged it out and he got GREAT results. He lost 25 pounds, his cardio increased, and he dropped 6 inches from his waist! Now, that's what I'm talking about!! It was a big sacrifice but I felt for me it was time well spent. I am helping him change his life!!!

Then a funny thing happened during the second month. 

Dave's enthusiasm started to wane and he dropped from 4 times a week down to 2 times. I did everything a workout/accountability partner should.  I motivated, inspired, castigated, pleaded – whatever it took to get him to the gym; nevertheless, he didn't even show up for our first workout of our third month. When I pressed him as to why — he came up with the normal laundry list of excuses: Tired, had a meeting, it's hard, was out late the night before, and the classic: "you like it, it's easy for you."

What Dave doesn't realize is that I have all the SAME excuses as he does:  I'm tired, I've got a meeting, I don't have time, I don't want to, I was out late the night before.  

The difference is fit and healthy people ACT in SPITE of their excuses.  

Does that make sense? 

If there's one thing that I can share with you that has made all the difference in my life, it's the simple secret of ACTING IN SPITE OF YOUR EXCUSES.  Be a person of ACTION and learn to IGNORE that voice that tells you: it's too hard, I'm tired, I don't want to; and LEARN to take ACTION in SPITE of it. 

If you do this one simple thing, if you learn to act in spite of your excuses, I promise you it will make all the difference in your life.  I know it has in my life.  

Now go and be brilliant!

Dan Clark

Btw – that's me below not listening to all the excuses, and jumping on the back of crazy damn bull and riding it.  In this case, I probably should've listened, because I quickly discovered getting off the bull HURT a lot more than getting on it! 

     Many of you were wondering what the story was behind the bizarre picture (below) that I posted Friday on Facebook.  Well, we were robbed. More precisely our place was broken into. Upon returning from our fav sushi restaurant, Katsuya, on Thursday night we discovered this mess in my gf's bathroom.  There have been a string of intruder alerts around the neighborhood — we just never thought it would happen to us.  So… I rounded up the "Usual Suspects" and need your help in identifying the guilty party. 

The first suspect:  SAM – a 13 year old male Lab, rescued 11 years ago. Frisky personality. Trustworthy, loyal but has been known to bite first and asks questions later.  He's on the injured reserve right now.  But still sneaky, crafty, and will piss on your foot before you know it. 

The second suspect: ELLA – an 8 year old female lab, rescued 6 years ago. "Moms' has a loving personality, but wasn't always the sweet doe-eyed girl you see her.  She spent some time in the pen, but who says rehab doesn't work.  She came out a different dog, but is and ex-con so not sure if she can ever be trusted.  Can a dog change it's spots?

Third Suspect: BECKHAM – Boston Terrier 6 years old.  The prodigal son or "Smiley."  Mischievous kid. Never seen hard time, but is spoiled and when he doesn't get his way —  can be unpredictable. Plus, can you ever trust anyone who smiles too much? And we've heard the ball-in-his mouth-all-the-time thing is a way to hide that sneaky smile. 

: 

The last suspect:  CHLOE – Boston Terrier 4 years old.  The "Playa Hater."  She's new to the Usual Round of suspects and has only been running with this crew for the last 3 weeks.  Before that she was on death row and was saved from the gas chamber by Death Row Dogs.  Like I said, she's only been around for a few weeks and is the "wild card" in the equation.  She's got "bling" on her collar – but can you ever really trust someone who has stared death in the face and is still around to talk about it? 

After intense questioning, with me and my gf playing good cop/bad cop, we immediately wrote the old guy Sam off the list.  He's got lymphoma cancer of the stomach and was in the infirmary at the time of the break-in.  

That left the 3 suspects below: CHLOE (Playa Hater), BECKHAM (Smiley), and ELLA (Moms).

We split them up and questioned them individually.  But no one was talking.  We even threatened to take away treats, walks, and sleepovers. Still nothing. This was a tight knit crew.  We tried for hours to break them to no avail. But thanks to some clever detective work, we think we finally had a suspect!  The contents of the bag were all female, so we nixed Beckham from the list, since he didn't fit the profile for a cross-dresser.  

With two suspects left, we just couldn't be certain as to whom the guilty party was.  Yet, upon closer inspection we did indeed realize we had a clue. Teeth marks on the some of destroyed pill bottles.  But after extensive forensic analysis – we still couldn't come up with a perfect match.  

Yet our instincts told us to go with the new girl Chloe.

She'd been on death row and we figured that after being locked up for so long, she just couldn't help herself to all the make up, nail polish and girlie accoutrements.  Just as we were taking her to the brig – we spotted another clue: Speckles of pink nail polish on the fur.  

But to our surprise, it wasn't on her fur.  It was on Ella's! 

The old temptress was up to her old tricks and thought she could put the blame on the new girl in town.  But Ella is guilty, guilty, guilty.  We contemplated on what the punishment should be for such a destructive act then slowly realized WE were to blame.  

Since we've gotten Chloe we've been showering her attention and love and ignoring Ella  – and you know what they say about "a woman scorned." 

So we walked, hiked, played ball and made up.  Hopefully it'll be enough to let her know she's still our girl!  Stay tuned…

Be well,

Dan

Technorati Tags: Dog stories, labrador, Boston Terrier, Funny dog stories, Funny dog, Funny pet story, Dan Clark, Nitro, Dan Nitro Clark, American Gladiators,

 BTW — If you haven't read my book yet, Amazon has a couple of bargain  Gladiator – A True Story of Roid, Rage, and Redemption copies on sale for $10!  Just click the link and go to the bargain box and click that link.  

    I stumbled across this article in Time Magazine.  I’m sure it’s going to create a lot of controversy. We all KNOW childhood obesity is an out of control epidemic and it’s only going to get worse until we figure out how to EDUCATE, MOTIVATE and EMPOWER Americas youth. I’m working with a partner to create a program called "Ten Thousand Pounds." It’s our attempt at tackling the adolescent obesity epidemic.

    That being said, I’m not so sure taking kids away from parents is the right solution. Regardless it’s happening more and more.  I think parents are indeed responsible for their child’s well-being, and letting a child become morbidly obese can be critically dangerous for the child’s health. But how much are the parents to be blamed?  We have a food industry that spends over 30 billion dollars a year on only marketing that entices us to eat.  Are we, are parents, are kids, really at fault for succumbing to their desires?  

I think the 33 percent of the population who doesn’t have a weight issue — will say the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the parents.  But what about the other 66 percent of Americans, the majority of the population, who are overweight?  How can they expect their children to do something they themselves cannot?  They can’t.  That’s EXACTLY why we have an adolescent obesity epidemic.  The trickle down effect from parents to kids is immeasurable.  

Here’s part of the article from Time Magazine:  

Should morbidly obese children be taken from their parents? That’s the question an increasing number of countries are grappling with amid the Western world’s obesity epidemic.

The latest case to make headlines concerns a Scottish couple who lost custody of two of their six children on the basis of what was, their lawyer claims, a failure to reduce the kids’ weight following warnings from Scottish social services. The couple lost their Oct. 14 appeal in a case that is far from clear-cut — representatives of Dundee City say they would never remove children "just because of a weight issue." But obesity appears to be the primary reason South Carolina mom Jerri Gray lost custody of her 14-year-old, 555-lb. son in May. She was arrested after missing a court date to examine whether she should retain custody after doctors had expressed concern about her son’s weight to social services. The boy is currently living with his aunt, and his mother is facing criminal child-neglect charges.  Full Article here.

If it was up to you what would you do?  Would you take a morbidly obese kid away from their parents? Take into consideration childhood protection laws have changed, and if you (social worker) don’t report the parent, you could get in trouble.  Again, what would you do?  

Be well,

Dan Clark

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