140 days down, 225 to go.
Thursday marks a month since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform that killed 11 oil workers and unleashed a still-spewing torrent of oil from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. As the first blanket of oil comes ashore on the Louisiana wetlands, questions linger about the spill and its impact. BP initially estimated that the well was pumping about 42,000 gallons daily (from three different leaks) into the gulf. A few days later, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued an estimate of five times that. Scientists examining satellite photos showing the reach of the spill contended that NOAA's estimate should be increased another fivefold— to about 1 million gallons a day. Wow, that's a very massive spill any way you slice it. My heart hurts just writing this because we are nature and when we hurt nature, we hurt ourselves. Don't these people get it? DAMN!!!

So of course today's addition I will extend my oil spill in the painting all the way to the end of my foliage because at this point, let's not kid ourselves. Irreparable damage as been reeked on the ecology of the Gulf of Mexico.

Here is a closer look.

139 days down, 226 to go.
As of today, the name RIZ® is officially trademarked and solely owned by me. According to the law, the owner of a registered trademark may commence legal proceedings for trademark infringement to prevent unauthorized use of that trademark. The owner of a common law trademark may also file suit, but an unregistered mark may be protectable only within the geographical area within which it has been used or in geographical areas into which it may be reasonably expected to expand. For me and what it do, this exclusive right is 'universal' as in worldwide. So please don't forget the '®' next to my name form now on...lol

For today's addition, I will be doing just that. I will be including the trademark symbol '®' on the top right hand side of my painting, where it should legally be placed.

Here is a closer look.

138 days down, 227 to go.
Efforts to keep some of the millions of gallons of oil spewing from an offshore well from hitting the coast of Louisiana were unsuccessful as waves carrying raw crude moved overnight into delicate estuaries at the state's southernmost point, Pass a'Loutre in Plaquemines Parish. So can we please call a spade a spade? Yesterday, a BP spokesman referred to the spill as 'a moderate ecological damage' but we all know that's far from the case. This is truly a disaster of epic proportions. For this spill to have made it all the way back to land from 10 miles out in the ocean, that's a major ecological disaster in my book.

So as a way to depict the impending damage of the delicate estuaries at the state's southernmost point, I will extend the carnage of my oil spill depicted on day 133 into my greenery from day 108 The greenery would represent the estuaries.

Here is a closer look.

137 days down, 228 to go.
I read somewhere that in order to have a complete workout, you should do leg exercises to have a fully rounded workout. Apparently working out the legs helps to release testosterone, much needed compound for muscle building. Now not being one to run away from a challenge, I decided to go hard on this advice and I ended my weight training regiment for today with a 20 minute leg session and I went all the way on the weights too. During the workout, everything felt fine as the adrenalin was pumping and I was motivated to do more and more reps. However it didn't hit me until I got home and tried to walk up the stairs. As I took my first step, I nearly buckled in the knees and had to grab hold of the railing for support. And that's when it hit me...I might have overdosed on the leg workout. So as I type this post, I am nursing tho aching knees and the lesson learnt today is to pace myself. Rome wasn't built in a day and and neither would my build so steady does it.

So for today's painting, I will be adding another ache radiation to the epicenter of my painting similar to those from day 10. I think this adequately represents the intense aches and pains I feel right now, not just on my legs but throughout by body because I did go hard too on my full body workout. But don't get me wrong people, this is the good kinda pain because it means muscles are working. However this 'ache ray' as I call it, will have a two pronged genesis to represent both legs as the origin of these pains.

Here is a closer look.

136 days down, 229 to go.
I wouldn't be a true Ironman fan if I didn't acknowledge the fact that it topped the worldwide box office for yet another week, even though I was less satisfied with this sequel. But through it all, it was still a very good movie and these days, that's saying a lot. I will take a movie that is about 70% satisfactory any day bearing in mind the absolute crap that Hollywood has been putting out in recent years.

So for today's addition, I will be adding the Ironman signature red color fill-in like I did for the day of the Ironman release on day 127. However this time it will be in the remaining spiral space.

Here is a closer look.

135 days down, 230 to go.
I got to try out me new sneakers briefly today by taking a quick run around my neighborhood and I have to say, it is definitely worth every penny. That's all I have to say for now.

So today's addition will be increasing the smile on my smiley face from day 83 to appropriately reflect my satisfaction of my new kicks.

Here is a closer look.

134 days down, 231 to go.
After a long long battle with inadequate sneaker foot support, waking up to acing feet arch morning after morning, I decide to bite the bullet and spring for the absolute best for your foot sneaker money can buy. today I was out for feet support and was ready to spare no expense. I wen down to the mall today and spent almost five hours shopping for the perfect sneaker for my foot condition and future needs. I actually over the course of five hours, bought three different sneakers (Asics, New Balance & Nike) and walked around in them for about an hour each to field test them. First up was the Asics. That didn't do do it for me so I returned it and sprung for a costlier New Balances. I walked around the mall attending to other shopping needs for another hour and came to the professional conclusion that I wanted something more. So I went back to Footlocker and told the guy there to simply point out the absolute best sneaker for my needs. I explained to him my history and what I will be mostly using the sneakers for. Basically I wanted an everything sneaker. And without hesitation, he went and pulled a Nike from the rack and said "if you're willing to fork out the price, this is the absolute best everything sneaker on the market bare none". So I said put it on my feet and I called it a day. I wore those new sneakers for the rest of the fay and my feet have never felt better and so pampered. It felt like I had a set of clouds below my feet. Through it all, I realized that I only gat two feet, I better treat em' right so that they last a long long time. Thus from now on, if the shoes don't make my feet feel like I'm walking on clouds, I don't care how cool it looks, I'm not putting my feet in it.

So for today's painting, I will be adding some signature sneaker laces to my cloud from day 123 to represent the feeling I had after purchasing these Nike sneakers and thus my new philosophy in footwear which is 'If it ain't cloud, it's not allowed'.

Here is a closer look.

133 days down, 232 to go.
The catastrophic oil spill that is still unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico is a catastrophe of epic proportions. Since the blowout at a BP deep-drilling rig on April 20, more than four million gallons of oil has spilled. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska in 1989 spilled almost 11 million gallons. The accident has polluted gulf waters, threatened beaches, and imperiled the fishing industry. Eleven workers lost their lives. Three weeks after the explosion, the leaking undersea well continues to gush 220,000 gallons of crude per day. BP officials say they hope to contain the leak within a few weeks. I hope this is a lesson to those proponents of oil as the best and most convenient source of power. We as a nation need to start seriously exploring alternative (natural) sources or energy that is sustainable and most importantly, environmentally safe. People we only have one Earth and the more we f#$k it up, the worse off it's gonna be for our children. So if you love your children (born and unborn), you will call your congress-person and push for tough action towards getting the US off the oily crack and on to clean renewable energy sources.

So to mark this disaster in history on my painting, I will be painting an original oil rig complete with an spill spreading in all directions and fast approaching my green grass which represents nature in this depiction. I will also show it's pollution of the air around as a reminder of the global warming caused by oil.

Here is a closer look.

132 days down, 233 to go.
Today I got up at the crack of dawn, 5:30am to be exact to attend a 6am boot camp workout session at my local 24 Hour Fitness club. Like yesterday, I decided to kick it up an extra notch and signup for the aptly titled 'Biggest Looser Boot Camp'. Again like with my spin class, I severely underestimated what I was up against. I consider myself as very fit however the last two days have taught me otherwise. Merely 5 minutes into the workout, I wanted to pass out and that was when I knew muscles and abs don't make a fit person. However never one to give up when faced with a challenge, I persevered through to the end. When we were done, I asked the instructor to give me an estimate of roughly how many calories we burnt during that session. She said it was anywhere from 300 to 500 calories depending on your intensity. As you can imagine, I was slightly disappointed because here I was exhausted and I've only burnt about 400 calories whereas the day before, I burnt about 1000 calories because I was able to do another 30 minute session on the stair climber for an additional 300 calories. So it's safe to say that I won't be attending another boot camp class but rather stick to my spin class in addition to my regular workout routine. Since burning about 3500 calories equates to a loss of 1 pound in weight, my goal is to burn about 3500 calories a week giving me a total loss of 6 - 10 pounds in the next two month, just in time for Summer's peak. Wish me luck.

When I think of Boot Camp, I think Dog Tags. I guess because they are both unique to the military. So for today's addition, I will be painting on a set of dog tags to represent today's boot camp encounter. It will be placed within rose colored strength triangle for two reasons. The first being that the boot camp instructor was a lady and she was rocking a rose colored outfit.

Here is a closer look.

131 days down, 234 to go.
Since Summer is fast approaching and I desperately need my Summer body to be ready in time for my Summer tour, I had to kick things up a notch in regards to my fitness regiment. I've been slacking off (traveling) in the last week which I used as a very convenient excuse to miss my workout but no more. Today I decided to signup for a spin class. Since I normally see ladies in this class, I thought it would be a breeze for me but boy was I wrong. I probably had the most intense workout of my life today at my spin class. It was non stop 60 minutes of intense cardio which often left me gasping for breath. However I am proud to say I stuck it through despite wanting to literally throw in the towel numerous times. And in the end I emerged 800 calories lighter. Yes, according to the instructor, we burnt between 600 and 800 calories in that 60 minute period depending on how hard of a try you gave it and I gave it my all. On my typical workout, I usually burn between 300 and 400 calories so this will give you a bit of an insight of how much more of a workout this was. And with no breaks might I add.

So for today's addition, I will be painting my usual strength blue hue to represent the color of the bike I was on. However as an added touch, I am gonna paint a gray circle in the center which represents two things. The first is time (a complete revolution of 60 minutes on the clock), and the second represents spinning as in the tires of my spin bike going round and round for one hour. It will be colored in gray for no specific reason other than because the color reminds me of metal.

Here is a closer look.