Loss Weight Diet and Diet Articles Explains how to cut calories and reduce fat in a diet. Recommendations on achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, and selection of low-calorie, reduced fat foods and beverages. Provides free diet information, and exercise plan, with an explanation of each phase including low carb diets, diet reviews, and other health information

Posted via web from erichc's posterous

SORRY, Man oh Man have things been crazy.  I have a legit excuse this time though!  Some of you noticed that AsthmaticAvenger went down for a while.  I was unable to post, edit, even sign in.   Anyway, with a little help from Pat, and a little help from a Drupal forum, I think I have it working, hopefully I can keep her up and running because I should have time to make an update or two every week.

Anyway, enough with the excuses, Thanks for reading!  Things have been insane.  Since my last post I have had 3 jobs, and the one I am at now is Great.  I am working on "Thor" for Marvel Studios, which will be directed by the amazing Kenneth Branagh and starring none-other than Natalie Portman, along with a great young actor by the name of Chris Hemsworth as the titular character.  I'm super-psyched to be working in film again, and to be working on a comic-book film... well... lets just say I think I am exactly where I want to be for now.

Some of you may be asking, wait, what is with the picture?  Why are you holding a Plant, Eric?  Is that Alex or Jesus making a sexy face at the camera?  Why is that dude wearing a helmet to the Pool?  Well, a) I was holding that plant because I wanted too, b) Despite an uncanny resemblance to "the Son of Man," believe it or not, that is Alex Carroll, and c) the Dude, our good friend Dale, was wearing a Helmet because thats how crazy, or "Buck Raul" in the parlance of Oceanside, things can get when you hang with the Carroll Kids (its crazy when it is just me and Alex, but when you add Beth to the equation... well, lets just say I hope you have property insurance).

Well I have to get back to work.  Thanks for checking in, E.

Here is a capture (okay, so I just pointed a digital camera at my TV) of my second real credit. I was the "Assistant Coordinator" on ABC's 'True Beauty'. The show was a blast to work on and most of the crew where really fun people... and of course the fact that it kept me employed for the better part of 3-4 months doesn't hurt me thinking of it fondly... Thanks to everyone who has said they have seen my credit, I really appreciate your support!

I'm proud of Apple Inc. today. My former employer and computer manufacturer of choice had this posted as the top story on the "Hot News" page at thier website:

"No on Prop 8

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8."

There is no reason to support this Proposition. And please don't site your religious beliefs, this country was founded on the idea that everyone should be able to practice any religion, and defining LAWS to support, defend or outlaw religious beliefs is wrong. It's also hypocritical since I have a feeling most people who are FOR Prop. 8 would be outraged if there was a proposition to not allow people of their religion to marry since it is not recognized by the state. There is no difference, if you don't believe in marrying people of the same sex... don't marry someone of the same sex. This is an attempt to make homophobia law and I can't support it. They really need to change the state constitution to make it so gay partners can't visit each other in the hospital? The LGBT community isn't making any attempt at stopping male-female couples from doing the same thing, so what is thier issue with that? It is honestly a backward and ignorant proposition that should incite nothing but rage in anyone who has given it thought. Plus some would be surprised how much their views change when they realize a family member, close friend, or anyone they truly care about is gay or lesbian. If you feel as strongly as I do, please vote AGAINST this Prop. If you don't feel str

Hey everybody, my ever-entertaining college roomie and all around great friend Chris Roddy, sent me this funny and chilling video this morning. I love the fun things people are doing with technology these days, and this video is a great example. It both entertains (seeing my own name in a fake newscast SHOULDN'T be as novel as it is, and yet, I have to smirk every time my name is on the screen!), and paints a pretty vivid picture of how important it is to vote, especially for those of us who didn't want to see Bush in office in the first place, let alone those of us who recognize the need for REAL CHANGE now that his presidency draws to a close (once again, brought to us by the brilliant minds at moveon.org). I vow to you that nothing like this newscast will air because I promise to be at my polling place on the 4th, and I hope you will too. You obviously know that I will be casting my vote for Barrack and I beg of you to do the same, I honestly feel that the healing this man could bring about in our country will be nothing short of historic. However, vote for the candidate you most believe in (although I would strongly disagree with anyone who chooses to vote for the Maverick Moose-Killers ;) ), I respect anyone who votes more than anyone who didn't. But seriously, please vote Obama... McCain is an honorable man, whom has earned all our respect, I mean that in all sincerity. If Palin weren't his running mate, and he were running against John Kerry, I might HONESTLY have to consider voting for him... but he's running against Obama, and he allowed his team to talk him into condescendingly choosing Palin in an attempt to win rural and female voters, and most importantly he represents what this country needs least right now... A more of the same ideology, and an aggressive military presence in the White House. Obama is the only candidate honestly representing change. And we need change... badly

In an effort to decorate my desk a little and my the space more "my own" I ended up making this little scene of a Giant Lizard taking a stroll through NYC. It's made with things I found at my desk or in the trash in our office. The color is all highlighters, the lines are pen, and the material is old folders were were throwing out. The pic doesn't do the 3D nature of it justice. Its got serious space between each piece, so in person it has a real sense of depth. Anyway, I just was happy with it, so I though I'd post it... Enjoy!

Well, last night the first episode of "Deal or No Deal" that I worked on aired. With it, my first ever Prime-Time TV credit: Eric Carroll, Casting Assistant. Have to admit I'm pretty jazzed about it. I've worked on other things that I maybe should have got credit on (I'm looking at you, "Gang of New York"), but this is, as far as I know the first thing with my name on it broadcast nationwide, and certainly my first credit on a channel as big as NBC. I hate to get all nerdy about it, but its the first concrete sign of me making progress on the things I moved to LA to make progress on. Don't get me wrong, I like LA and I love living with my brother Alex, but leaving NYC was very hard. I hated leaving the city I consider home, and all the friends I made over my 8.5 year there who MADE IT HOME for me, but I did it to further my career and this credit is proof that even though I haven't REACHED my goals, I am making progress. So look for it after any prime-time episode of "Deal or No Deal" if you find your self channel surfing at the appropriate time!

This summer has become the summer of 2-wheeled vehicles for me and my circle of friends. When Adam moved out here a year ago, he decided he only needed a scooter to get to work and back, and that he and Carolyn didn’t need a second 4-wheeled vehicle. Our great friend Pug, has been a scooter enthusiast for as long as I’ve really known him, and has converted to rolling on 2 wheels pretty much exclusively for a WHILE, long before the scooter craze caught on lately. He’s got a scooter centric blog and proves that you can do a LOT of things on a scoot including bring multiple surf-boards to the beach with you. Then there is Toby, who found a SWEET old school Enduro 125cc bike to ride around his new SoCal neighborhood. Adam and I also took the California Motorcycle safety class a few weeks ago, so we’ll have our Motorcycle licenses and a break on Scooter/Motorcyle insurance. Obviously gas prices have been a big part of this, the “22-mile-each-way” commute to my new job will be a lot cheaper on a scooter than in my car.

So a couple of weeks ago, to really put to 2-wheeled lifestyle to the test I decided to ride Adam’s scoot 100 miles to Oceanside, CA from North Hollywood to visit Pug and see the Tigers play the Padres. The ride down was an adventure, complete with a few wrong turns and attempts to take closed roads, and I eventually had to use the freeway. In the end though, it was great and round trip it was less than 2.5 gallons to go over 200 miles! The trip home was much easier too and took less than 2 hours and 45 minutes, on surface streets!

It went so well, I bought my own scooter. A Lance Venice 150cc. A sweet little Retro-Styled freeway legal scoot that I absolutely love. I’ve been using a new iPhone App called AccuFuel (which you can download on your iPhone or with iTunes by clicking here) to track my mileage and as of today, I am getting 81MPG without tuning it or anything, that’s “out-of-the-box”. Sorry for the generic PR photo of the bike, but attached is my last MPG figures from AccuFuel. I promise to post a “real” picture of my scoot soon!

Hey every one, sorry for the gap, life is crazy, but I'll stop starting every post with that, as I promised to earlier. The biggest news in this asthmatics life lately? I got a new job, a job in the Entertainment industry as I had hoped to. I now work on the set of "Deal or No Deal". It's a blast, I miss my ECAD adventures, and surely the folks at GLAAD were a big part of my making a successful transition to this coast, but its nice to be working in TV. I work in the casting department, so I work with the contestants mostly. And for the record, No, I can't get you on the show, actually, if you know me well enough to read this fairly personal blog, you're disqualified from playing. Sorry. Anyway, it is a lot of fun, the people there are great and the days fly by, and the days flying by is especially impressive since my days are anywhere from 9-18 hours long... We shoot at "The Culver Studios" (which is what the photo is of) with a whole bunch of other TV shows and movies. They feed me on shoot days and most exciting for this humble blogger, I have health insurance. Its been great so far, and I don't see it getting less so any time soon! Sorry this has to be a short post since I am about to leave my apartment, so I'm not late for my new job! Thanks for sticking around, I'll try and go into more detail when I get a chance...

Most of you know that Alex and I were on a softball team together this fall/winter. You may also know that we played about 12 games... and lost every single one. Well a new season is upon us! The team is about the same except we've lost Joel to Shoulder Surgery and gain Adam Santos-Coy to fill the hole he left. This year the team is sponsored by Timmy Nolan's Tavern and Grill, the spot we'd go to hang out after our games last season. The bar is owned by a friend of Donny, Jim, and Brian's named Steve a great guy who makes sure we are taken care of when we come in.

Anyway, the season is already off to a very different start. Our first game didn't end with us as victors... but we didn't lose either, it was a 17-17 game, in which we came from behind to score 10 runs in the 5th inning. It was exciting and hopefully its a sign of a better record this year. The image for this post is the logo I designed for the "Timmy Nolan's Softball Team" (its a TN, if you can't tell). I'll post a picture of the team in the jersey's Brian and I designed as soon as we take one. Send us your positive energy on Sunday Mornings! GO TIMMY NOLAN'S!

Nice, the Tigers have won their last 3 games (2 of which they came from behind) scoring a total of 30 runs in 3 games... NOT BAD! The "new guys" have come through in a big way and the Tigers who did well last year have come through to help out offensively too. Tigers fans aren't out of the woods yet, but lets just say that the last 3 days have been considerably more fun than the first 12 were, ha ha! Nice to relax... Anyway, if we can beat the Indians tonight, we aren't the team in the AL Central with the least wins anymore (although the opposite is true, if we lose, we still are, ha ha) here's to hoping for another win...

Well, the baseball season is upon us. Any of you reading this, no doubt know I am a huge Detroit Tigers fan, I was a Tigers when when they set the American League record for losses in a season in 2003 and I was at Game 2 of the World Series in Detroit only 3 years later (the only game they beat St. Louis in the Series by the way). This year has been kinda rough for Tigers fans so far. Before last night's game the Tigers has played 12 games, and only 2 were wins, neither impressive wins either. On top of that, in 4 of the games the Tigers didn't mange to score at all. All this was happening after being told that for most of the off-season the Tigers were the hands down favorite to win the World Series. We also had to watch a great guy like Brandon Inge lose his every-day position. This is heart-breaking (not that I blame Dave Dombrowski for the decision, is job is to try and win World Series, and sadly that means occasionally telling guys like Brandon Inge they aren't needed anymore) because of what Inge had meant to the team for the last few years. He is the Tiger with the most seniority, he was there in 2003 for the bad times and there in 2006 for the great times. He played any position he was asked to and made some of the most exciting catches in baseball while at third base. Despite him struggling with the bat last year, he still managed to deliver clutch hits and Home Runs seemingly when he needed to most. We also gave up Sean Casey, the nicest guy in baseball, someone you couldn't help but love. Not to mention Pudge Rodriguez, widely regarded as the begining of the "turn-around" in Detroit has struggled in the last season. And on top of all that, maybe the most exciting young Tiger Curtis Granderson, is injured and can't play yet. So after seeing Inge take the bench, Granderson benched, and watching the team that was supposed to have a real shot at 1000 runs this season ( they were on track for less than 500 before last nights game) lose 10 of 12 games... you have to understand things have been disappointing to say the least for Tigertown. That was until last night. Last night the Tiger mounted one of the most exciting comebacks I have ever seen, losing 5-0 in the 7th they went on to beat the Twins 11-9 by the end of the 9th. And it played out in a thrilling way including clutch hits (and a Homer) from Pudge, hits from rookie Clete Thomas, and getting to see Inge take 3rd for the last Inning to play his spectacular defense... I'm not saying the Tigers problems are over, I'm just saying we saw a preview of the team they could be, and hopefully will be this year. Perhaps last nights come-back was the proverbial spark we needed to break out of the funk and start winning. Either-way it was a spectacular night for Tigers fans, something we desperately needed to get excited about this year...

Remember when I said I went to Vegas to help a friend shoot a commercial and I ended-up acting in it? While the driector, Mark Freiburger, posted at Funny or Die, a great website with lots of funny content. You can see it here: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3aa8ac8d18 or by clicking the picture above... If you like it please wait until the end of the Video and then click the "FUNNY" vote, it could help Mark, Dale and I get work in the industry, so every vote counts! THANKS SO MUCH! Hope you enjoy it!

Those of you who have read the blog for a while, will remember that last year Alex and I went to a Sweater and Turtleneck Holiday party in La Jolla, CA. Well, it is almost that time again, in fact the party is THIS Saturday. The image is the postcard the crew throwing the party is circulating to publicize the event! All are welcome, the money goes to charity and if last year was any indication, this is going to be a GREAT TIME! My handlebars are looking truly ridiculous, and I'm trying to come up with an outfit that can top last years as we speak... hope to see some of you there!