Josue' Said What?!

Off the grid.....

2009-01-27T12:44:00.003-05:00

Hello World,
I am jumping out of the BLOGGER ship....The Blogger experiment was a decent ride, but Twitter is where I'll be after today...Evolution is good...Come and follow me.....M knows the deal.

My latest world news obsession....

2008-12-17T17:16:00.005-05:00

Drum roll, please...........SOMALI PIRATES!
Man, these stories have me glued to my computer screen on a weekly basis. Just when you think these guys cannot get any more bold, they top the latest stunt. I am certainly not making light of the plight in Somalia because it is indeed very serious and there are lots of people hurting/dying at this moment and have been for a very long time. A 17year lack of government structure will certainly contribute to that, but the lack of action by so many nations for such a period of time is astounding to me. In fact, I find it crazy that anyone traveling through the Gulf of Aden does not roll with 3-4 mercenaries. I understand there are laws that prevent weapons going through port, but come on, 2008 has been a freaking jackpot for these lawless clowns in Somalia! Companies have recently started to take their ships ALL THE WAY AROUND the west coast of Africa just to avoid idiots with a few shoulder rocket launchers and a few machine guns rolling up on them in 4-5 skiffs and letting the ships get taken over because they don't believe anyone can be so bold like these guys have CONTINUED TO BECOME. Lots of money is being lost because no one is fighting back and ending these playground-antics on the sea. What other proof do you need that you cannot just roll over? They (European or Asian due to proximity) need to get a few naval ships over there and follow these clowns home and drop a few missiles on their shacks on shore and this mess will be over and then recover the "confiscated" tankers and other sea vessels these idiots STOLE and this ish will be old news...Are you kidding me....any of these nations could send a small team of special ops. over there to clean this mess up....what gives?!

No worries, the Chinese plan to flex....and I await the next move in this drama.

Latest Tech Adoption....

2008-12-10T12:39:00.003-05:00

So.....I enjoy technology in my daily life and thirst for more and more knowledge regarding so many aspects of tech, but I am certainly NOT an early adopter in gadgets, software, hardware et. al. I thing my ~~cheapskate~~ frugal nature wins that battle most of the time. This is not to say I am not AWARE of new gadgets, software, hardware and many things tech, but I just hate to use my money for something that adds no significant value to what my current workflow or completion of tasks is currently.I also aim to not allow myself to get too caught up in the marketing-hype machine of many forms of technology.

For the last month, I have tested a new aspect of technology that has been around for almost 10 years, but really snowballed in '05-06' and that technolgy is RSS. I use NetNewsWire on my macbook and currently am running about 20feeds and am loving it! There are so many great things about RSS Feeds, but I have found the rapid nature of viewing stories as well as allowing me to be very selective....I can see the title and in a split second move on or click in for the entire story. If I happen to be traveling and away from a net connection, I can essentially click into these stories before I leave and they will sit in NetNewsWire and I can view them.

I resisted this for a long time because I thought it was pointless. Now, I cannot see interacting with the net any other way. I would say it has moved to about 60-70% of the way I use the net if I am not quickly looking up info/directions/checking email. It sames me tons of time although I can find myself trying to digest so much information that I need to walk away many times because so many stories can populate if I let hours and hours go by without checking and as we all know....life has a way of pulling you in different directions at times.

Get on the RSS train....It's movin' baby!

My new favorite fruit....

2008-11-30T21:25:00.005-05:00

Feijoa, aka Pineapple Guava or Guavasteen are the names of this delicacy and allow me to warn you and your taste buds. The taste is such that a kiwi, guava, pineapple and some cosmic aromatics joined forces to take over the rest of the fruit world. These things are supper-addicting and I recommend you find one ASAP, cut it length-wise , scoop out the insides, consume and allow this goodness to change your life.

My next step is to find an Asian market that probably does a better job of carrying more of a higher quality and lower cost than one of the mainstream supermarkets I found the ones I purchased at......I'm hooked.

A vistit to my PCP today...

2008-11-19T15:03:00.003-05:00

Well, we are in the season of sickness in the MI thanks to changing seasons, closed quarters and questionable immune systems.

I have had a 3.5 week bout with the coughs, sneezes, phlegms and overall discomfort from the neck up. I took some Comtrex (which is my usual method of healing myself from such ailments) and thought I was on the road to recovery 1.5 weeks ago. Well, I still could not get rid of the occasional cough + phlegm action. L told me I had bronchitis, but although it has been years since my bronchials were afflicted like that, I brushed off her diagnosis. Two days ago, I woke up and felt as though I swallowed a sea urchin. I told myself, "Must see doctor immediately." Well, after several gargles with salt water, lemon juice, honey and cayenne, I let one more day go by thinking my immunity would win. It didn't and I broke down and made that call this morning to see if my doctor could see me sans appointment. He did and a gift of 30 Amoxicillin taken for 10 days later, I am on the swift road to recovery.

Diagnosis: Bronchitis.

Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo

2008-10-23T22:14:00.004-04:00

...is the newest album from Calle 13. It came out two days ago. I have listened to it from beginning to end at least 3X and I must say the evolution is noticeable and something I was unsure of since I thought the first album was very different, but still very good. René Pérez (Residente) is one of THE best lyricists out there. Flat out, the guy is a friggin wordsmith and the cadence he uses is amazing! Seriously, the dude is line with Em in the sense of how he can change on a dime and actually have content that tells a story and transforms your perception when you hear and then visualize what he says. One of my favorites, indeed. Eduardo Cabra (Visitante) is an amazing producer of beats. The guy weaves so many styles on this album and marries so many genres of music that it is surprising how smooth it is and it just works. You would be an idiot to say Calle 13 is reggaeton and I know that is what the mainstream US would try to do since it is so much fun to label everything and everyone, but this music is on the fringe of reggaton. Everything from bossa nova, salsa, jazzy beats, tango and really basic sounds can be heard on this album.

These guys are rude/shrewd/lewd, but in a very clever way. I would probably not listen to these guys within ear shot of my abuela or mother, but production-wise and lyrically, this has to be THE best album out right now and I expect it to clean up grammys like the previous release did.

Get it!
In line with our busted political system, peep the vid from
MTV ...it really cracks me up!

Things...too many things...

2008-09-24T09:32:00.003-04:00

We recently had our carpets steam cleaned. I'm glad it happened, but the process of getting prepared for this to happen and the aftermath yielded an unfortunate reality I am embarrassed to be a part of -- WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF!! The sad thing, is that 80-90% of this stuff was not even purchased by us. There is stuff we were given when we got married, stuff people gave to M and having a child for a little bit over two years has taught me that they are pretty simple and do not require THAT MUCH stuff for daily living. Adults complicate the lives of kids, but kids are pretty basic and excess clothes and toys sitting in a closet is not a resourceful use of space and could easily be utilized by less fortunate families, homeless shelters, churches or other locations. It was amazing to see all the items I transferred from three closets to the basement in preparation for the carpet guy to come in here and work his non-toxic magic. Well, this exercise opened my eyes and the process calls for a minimum of items to remain in closets, lots of purging and a deliberate act of living a more simple life.

Eye Spy......

2008-09-17T21:52:00.004-04:00

Have you ever played the WORD ASSOCIATION GAME? You know, think of a word and the FIRST thing that comes to mind just leaps from your tongue. I tend to play this game alot although I have evolved to images. Since I love photography so much, images evoke words and words and words although this post lends itself to one image being associated with another...in my mind, at least.

Exhibit A:
Princess Beatrice of York

I don't possess any obsession with British Royalty, but happened to be reading a story and saw her image and my synapses started dancing and made me think of..........

Exhibit B:
Large Marge from Pee Wee's Big Adventure

What can I tell you? The labyrinth that is my mind goes to unusual places sometimes....I feel better now that this is out in the open. :p

Bonus Exhibit:

The GREAT Pumpkins.....

2008-09-07T22:18:00.005-04:00

I have a friend across the border who is pretty eccentric in terms of pretty much anything he does. I appreciate that because it is not something I could apply to as many things in my life as this guy does. I love it if we don't speak for a few days because he usually has some off-the-wall dramatic story that occurred and it is usually pretty unbelievable, but he always has proof that these events have occurred. Anyway, as a fellow gardener, we talk about items we grow and as you can see in the pics, the guy grows giant pumpkins. These two monsters (one is almost 700lbs and the other is +500) were at his grandmothers house and he has two other patches he tends to. It's crazy the rituals he goes through to feed these beasts. I had no choice but to take pics near these buggers when we were in Windsor last night for a bbq he had. He also brews beer and wine, but that is another post for another time.
The official weigh-in is at the beginning of next month at the county fair. I'd love to video the act of moving these things to the fair grounds....Sheesh..

Calling all B - Movie Actors

2008-08-29T23:07:00.005-04:00

....and Pron Stars....

Your accessory de jure is available for a cool $168.

This is hilarious to me.

Why do I think of old school director chairs when I see this mess?

'staches' only work for cops, retired cats named Ed, adult dodge ball players and barbers with white aprons and straightedge razors.

Everyone else need not try, rock a goat or thin beard....

I'm just saying...

And, they expect to make money?

2008-08-13T23:29:00.004-04:00

I respect entrepreneurs. I have mentioned the fact on this blog several times that I would love to jump out on my own, BUT sometimes the deadly "R word" (risk) starts to play tricks on my thinking and I just jump back into the rat race of a corporation. One day though........one day.

Anyway, I came home from work the other day and the very image you see of the window washing "advertisement" was wedged in between my storm door. I pulled this trash out and shook my head at the feeble attempt to persuade me and who knows how many other suckers to call these chumps back to have them wash windows. I'm VERY particular about being persuaded to follow up with a business when all I have is print media. I can overlook a poorly designed informational website sometimes, but a postcard, brochure or random flyer needs to at least be cut properly to grab my attention. Who knows, maybe two high school ~~or junior high~~ kids are trying to make some money. Either way, details, details, details. SIMPLE details! Geez. I had to disguise the phone numbers to protect the guilty.

A little girl singin' Lil Wayne....

2008-07-30T23:22:00.005-04:00

So, the other day, I was outside at home watering my garden and doing some things in the garage and happened to be walking out of the garage and on my way to the backyard and I hear one of the neighborhood kids singing Lollipop by Lil Wayne...Well, more specifically she dropped this portion of the lyrics as she was running down the street to play with some other kids:
Shawty say I lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-look like a lollipop
She say I lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-look like a lollipop
Lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-look like a lollipop
Wanna lick the rapper
So I letta lick the rapper
I stopped on a dime and just looked out into the street wondering if I had heard what I heard....Indeed, it was a 6-7yo girl saying this and I just shook my head and wondered what she'll be or where she'll dance ~~to pay for law school, of course~~ when she is of age......Oh, the decline of society....sheesh. Making kids is easy. Being a responsible parent takes work.

By the way, I laugh EVERY TIME I see this new album cover from Lil Wayne....LOL!

Times are Tough?

2008-07-19T17:31:00.003-04:00

The sensationalized news stories of the last few months would have us believe that the US economy is on a downward spiral. You would be even more inundated with these stories in Michigan. Well, I am here to say that I don't see it.....We went to Costco this morning since I had two coupons that were soon to expire for $3 of an 18" pizza and $3 off some cookies made in their bakery. These two items are things I have never purchased at Costco anyway, but due to the additional savings, I thought I would take the leap and just bring it over to my mom's house for our weekend visit we always make. Anyway, we got there at 11am. The place opens at 10am on Saturday. The parking lot was JAMMED!! Consider this, Costco only accepts cash and Amex or debit card. Well, I put in my order for this 18" monster of a vegetable pizza that looked like a freaking ceiling fan. L, M and I walked to the back of the store and retrieved the cookies and we were out of bacon, so we got some of that. We came back and every register was lined up with humanity as when we arrived before I put in the order for the pizza. Man, I was just thinking how amazing it was to think that if the economy is so bad, you would think people would be a little less likely to purchase so many items from Costco. Don't get me wrong, my only reason for going to Costco is that I can get some items there cheaper in terms of unit price and they have a great selection of goods, but there were people there with their carts full of items that can be purchased cheaper at other stores or farmers markets, etc.

The next time another person tells me how bad the local economy is, I'll just wink and nod.

A Race I Plan to Run....

2008-06-29T22:04:00.005-04:00

My goal is to compete in a 10K race on Thanksgiving morning. Some people at work were discussing this and asked me if I wanted to get in on it. Of course, none of us are competitive runners, but like to stay in shape and a 10K is not an impossible distance for the average weekend warrior although I am truly far from a distance runner. I could bike 10K in my sleep, but running it will be a decent challenge that I am beginning preparations for now. My issue is that I am pretty comfortable on my treadmill, but will incorporate more outside running now that summer is in full effect. My coworkers want everyone to keep pace until the last 1/2 mile and then OUR RACE will begin. I'm ok with that idea and obviously I would like to win since I will gladly brag and remind them who their daddy is. :p

We'll see what happens, but I am always down for some friendly competition.

Planned Obsolescence

2008-06-10T13:21:00.006-04:00

I was pretty disgusted with this recent episode in my life. That episode involves a refrigerator....our refrigerator. A fridge has the task of stalling the spoilage of perishable food items. A bonus of consumer fridges is the attached freezer. This episode involved a slowly dying fridge portion and a fully functioning freezer portion.

The only real casualty was a 1/3 gallon of milk. L noticed items in the fridge not staying cool about 3 days before we got it fixed. Getting it fixed is what kind of annoyed me. I'm a cheapskate and was in no mood to call a "handy-man" or a suspect company to come in and try to persuade me to give them more money than I needed to. We went into research mode. Found the exploded diagram on the company site and tried all the troubleshooting listed. We vacuumed the condenser coils to rid them of dust. I had a bad feeling the motherboard. Yes, you read that right....My fridge has a friggin mother board on the back. This is nothing new. Most new fridges posses these items. Oh...the dumbing down of society...Anyway, We checked the part cost and it was about $220. I almost screamed. Age of the fridge? Just over 5years old. What a joke. Well....I got lucky with calling a local company since the part + shipping would probably have been the cost of someone coming out anyway. We had all of our food and other items out of the fridge and freezer into coolers to stall the spoilage. Oh...I forgot to mention that this happened on a Sunday. DOUBLE the labor PRICE!! Well, L found an add in the yellowbook that boasted of NO EXTRA CHARGE FOR WEEKENDS. Alright!! A possible winner. Well, I called them, the guy actually showed up earlier than first mentioned. He knew exactly what to look for and a manual defrosting of the freezer, motherboard replacement, $260 and several hours of cooling back down, the fridge was cooling and freezing like a freaking champ.

What happened to the days of having appliances for 20yrs and them still working fine?

planned obsolescence is alive and well.

I was a fan of women's tennis...

2008-06-02T20:47:00.001-04:00

Now, I just want to work out......

Fragrance-Free Deodorant

2008-05-29T22:36:00.004-04:00

I'm kind of pissed right now. Reason? I am on my 4th or 5th brand of fragrance-free deodorant during the last year or two and the stuff friggin stinks! Sheesh. In combination with trying to minimize the chemical exposure where I can, I just thought I was doing something that my own chemistry may react favorable to and actually not kick off some BO....sheesh. I may be a bit more conscious of this than the rest of the world, but it's annoying. I see fragrance-free and that is what I expect.

Back to the chems I go unless I just go into hippie mode and flaunt the odor........maybe not.

Grey Days are no fun

2008-05-14T21:49:00.002-04:00

Man, I am tired of these grey days in the MI. Sheesh. I don't suffer from SAD, but am really annoyed at how the sun refuses to show itself. Last Saturday was great. Sun was on blaze and it was in the high 70's. Life was grand, but the past few days have been depression in the sky and I am supposed to plant in 2weeks? The ground needs consistent heat to allow for the seedlings to do their thing and extract nutrients from the soil and produce fruit. Something better happen quick......

Jumped on the CSA Wagon Yesterday

2008-04-29T18:53:00.004-04:00

I have been researching CSAs for the last two years and took the plunge and bought a share for the 2008 season. 20 weeks to be exact. I split it 3ways to lower the cost and am pretty exited about it; less than $12/wk is hardly going to break the bank for some quality produce. I spoke with one of the farmers for about 20min and it was a pretty interesting conversation. With gas prices through the roof and an overall unsavory and far from local food supply, I am happy to support a local economy and feel good about the implications of spending a little bit more, but getting a much better product.

Here's the farm I went with.

Almost stepped on the bugger...

2008-04-18T22:17:00.004-04:00

It was a close call for this warty amphibian. I was walking to the backyard to put some trash in the can and as I just happen to glance down, I see this thing jump...."Woah!" says I and I pivot out of its way and jet back inside and grab my cam and run back and the thing is on its way into the street. I crouch and shoot. My neighbors probably thought I was out of my mind. I let it hop away and into the night it disappeared.

The bag lady was right all along....

2008-04-07T20:19:00.003-04:00

In an effort to reduce my contribution to adding plastic trash to the earth, I have been utilizing 2-3 medium-sized cloth bags on my weekly shopping trips for groceries for the last month. I have already slashed the amount of plastic bags in the house by a significant amount. The bags are useful for small trash cans we have in the basement and under the kitchen sink, but I have not needed to add to the large amount that I have accumulated for the last few years and kept hidden since I never wanted to throw them away. I should have converted to reusable bags much earlier, but since I was just lazy in that respect, I failed to do so, but now that I am doing that, I don't know why more people don't do the same. Some stores already charge for using them and since Euros are much more concerned about the environment than the average american, you find higher usage of reusable bags for shopping. Whole Foods will eliminate plastic bags in about two weeks. Think of the implications to the earth if Walmart or Best Lie (thanks D; I still laugh using that description) had a policy like this in place.

Once again, americans need to wake up and think about tomorrow....

Blog Layout

2008-03-31T00:46:00.002-04:00

Yay/Nay

Any thoughts?

UniverSOUL HealthCare

2008-03-20T23:04:00.003-04:00

Sheesh..I'm not the biggest fan of a full-scale Universal Health Care situation, but I certainly like to hear ideas about it. I am not an economist, nor do I play one on TV, but the cost of this long, drawn-out and stupid war may have caused us to kiss that concept good-bye.

:(

Working the System

2008-03-09T15:23:00.004-04:00

I'm not naive and am well-aware that the "system" gets worked everyday, all over the world in many different forms and fashions. The system I am referring to in this post is the welfare system in the US of A. Man, this situation just pissed me off when I witnessed it. It goes a little something like this....I was at the store today getting some groceries. I finished shopping and was looking for a checkout line. I found one and fell into the queue. The obligatory review of magazines, gossip mags and other fish wraps consumed me for several minutes. As the line began to evaporate, I was on deck to get checked out and be on my way. I noticed one of my neighbors getting some items. I was looking right at her to see if she would see me and we would exchange hellos. She did not notice me and I did not disrupt her to inform her I was there. Well, I was literally 2ft away from her and noticed when it was time to pay, this married mother of several whips out a Bridge Card. Post double-take turned to anger in my mind since I see this lady every day. Guess what she pulls up into her driveway with? A freaking Cadillac Escalade!!
The other vehicle is a Jeep Commander. 2 SUVs. She does not work either. The real amazing thing about this is they put their house up for sale last year for a few months, then took it off the market and then they brought another child into the world and then got the Caddy and all the while I am confused at all of this. I see her pay with that card that my tax dollars have helped generate and walked out of that store a very pissed off person since this idiot lives on my street, drives a vehicle over 3X the cost of what I drive and had the state cover her $70 of groceries. Man, if that is not working the system, I am not sure what is.

My issue is certainly not with individuals on welfare. I am in full support of having that system, BUT the government should be better equipped to reduce the amount of fraud going on everyday. I know that people sell those cards to get cash and run all kinds of schemes, but I was just amazed at witnessing this episode today. Some people have no shame at all.

Need......summer....now!

2008-03-02T23:30:00.004-05:00

Sheesh. I am so tired of cold and snow and snow and cold. I should not be surprised. This is MI, but if there is ever a year I yearn for spring, this is it. Maybe it is because I know M is really wanting to get out there since she looks outside everyday and I can tell she wants to feel the sun on her face and touch the grass. Maybe it is because I am sick of the treadmill and would rather run/walk outside. Maybe it is because I envision caring for my garden and am tired of the inconsistent produce I get at various stores. Whatever it is, I need summer.....I need the sun to bake my skin and I need it now!

How I beat the flu........almost.

2008-02-17T15:50:00.003-05:00

At this time last week, I felt it brewing in my bio. Not good. I was not equipped with a flu shot for 2008. I may have gotten 2-3 in my lifetime after high school....as far as I can recall. No reason for not getting one other than I am young and pretty healthy and don't want to steal any supply from the elders and kiddies.
Well, everyone and their mother is sick at my work. I thought I could be strong enough to not get infected since I have not had the flu in years. I frequently wash my hands and avoid as many people who I know are sick as possible. Somehow, doing both of those things did not help me. It hit me hard and I was out two days last week and I should have been out 3. My boss even told me to go home, but I had lots of things to get done and was not trying to be a hero or anything. I just did not want double the fires when I eventually would return. Anyway, I am about 90% at this moment and should the flu hit you, here is my advice:
1. Rest (as in sleep).
2. Consume fluids (as in water that is NOT too cold)
3. Use some Vicks VapoRub on your upper chest and mix in a small towel to promote some heat and concentration of the product.
--OPTIONAL-- 4. If you have sore muscles, nasal congestion and coughing, take a multi-symptom set of over the counter capsules to speed up recovery.

#4 is optional because the flu will run its course if you sleep more and consume liquids. I avoid meds at all cost since the side-effects are not natural.

Good luck to all and may the (IMMUNITY) FORCE be with you.

Language Misfits

2008-01-28T23:10:00.001-05:00

I was the unfortunate witness to a conversation at the grocery store the other day. Whole Foods was the scene and two middle aged women were the actors in this play before me. I was there on my lunch hour grabbing a few items. I am not a WF diehard by any stretch, but it's near my work and I get very specific items not found at my other usual spots. I think they have SOME decent products, but primarily they are pretty overpriced, overrated and a marketing juggernaut. Yuppies, vegans and the same people who fill up gyms the first month of every year flood WF for "natural" foods and health products. Anyway, these two women were discussing details of a SuperBowl party they were going to throw. Appetizers were the main subject of the dialog I caught. I had to here them speak of terms like FO-KA-CHI-A (Focaccia) and BRU-SHEDDA (Bruschetta). I am annoyed by many things and improper pronunciation of other languages when spoken with arrogance and pseudo conviction is at the top of that list. I mostly love when many ~~'merAkin~~ people try and correct me when I pronounce something in regards to food (like Ceviche, Carne Asado or Ricotta to name a few items not native to English) correctly or say, "You say it with an accent." Accent? How about the correct way, you moron! Ethnocentrism is alive and well.....

Killer Side Eye

2008-01-16T22:45:00.001-05:00

O better watch it. Hill is giving him the Side-Eye from Hades. There is some pretty fierce radiant heat being projected from her sockets....

Techno-Envy

2008-01-07T22:36:00.001-05:00

Man, I wish I was in Vegas right now for CES 2008. It's a geek's paradise! Having followed several different site previews of the show does nothing but make me envious of anyone there.

One day.........one day.

I want one

2007-12-22T21:12:00.000-05:00

Asus Eee PC. Sure, it's not for the poweruser tendencies I possess, but the form factor and durability are absolutely perfect for casual web surfing and the lack of harddrive is another plus. This little (7" screen) monster runs on flash memory and comes with a flavor of linux installed. When I get it, I'll keep linux on there and embrace all of the open source apps (open office, firefox and skype as a few examples) it comes with that I am familiar with anyway. You have the ability to install XP on it, but then performance takes a major hit and because this thing will be a true ultra portable, I can use my PC or Mac for other tasks.

I am hyped about getting this thing, but 8G is the top performer right now. I'm waiting for the first few months of 2008 before I get it. I am positive there will be storage, speed and other boosts and hopefully the price does not climb too high.

I'll post a detailed review once I get my hands on it.

The Arabic term for "cover"

2007-12-12T21:34:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty sure we have all heard of this story about the Pakistani father who ~~allegedly~~ choked his daughter in Canada due her wearing Western dress to school and not opting for the Hijab that is customary for many Muslim women. At work today, I stopped in the breakroom and the TV was on and this story was being discussed by some talking heads. This is where my reality takes a turn for the ignorant. I was eating a great snack when a person from another department was in there consuming their lunch and heard the news story and said out loud, "That girl is in the US now and should dress like we dress and hijab is a silly name." I looked over at the person and said, "Wow, you are pretty tolerant of other cultures. That silly thing is an Arabic term for cover and it's a scarf that I am sure you have seen worn by Muslim women." This person then said, "So, you think what the father did was OK?" I said, "How do you draw THAT conclusion by me commenting on YOUR comment and saying nothing about the father in this story?" The person says, "Well, if he wants her to dress in that scarf, they should move back to where they came from!" I said, "Are you serious? It's amazing how this "LAND OF THE FREE" we live in only applies to Americans who speak one language and really believe the world is only about the US."

I know the father was 100% wrong for killing his daughter, but the real issue is that this father did not properly deal with a rebellious daughter and lost his mind and now his daughter is dead and he will sit in jail until he dies. My point was that the family in this story has customs that tunnel-visioned Americans think are "stupid" and just because many American kids can step all over their parents and many of the US laws give children WAY TOO MANY rights that the government has no business stepping into, immigrants are to not be judged by what one idiot did because their customs were not being followed.

I suggested this person get some Diversity Training and told them to remember that the US is not the only country in this world and holding on to cultural traditions is a major part of many people's identity when they move to another country for whatever reason. I shook my head and went back to work......

The Med Ball and This Morning....

2007-12-02T14:44:00.000-05:00

Let me preface this post by saying that Dub may be the only one who can appreciate it, but I will throw it out to the blogosphere anyway.

Saturday mornings typically involve me going to a friend's house to work out in his basement and yesterday was no different. It's a finished basement with alot of room and since I do work out at home, but I cannot max out at for fear of pinning myself to my bench and having a screaming wife find me in that state. This friend and I are really close in strength levels and that is an important detail since we can spot each other with no issues and are right around plus/minus 5-10lbs for a max on various exercises.

Anyway, we like to mix up the workouts on occasion so we decided to use the 12lb medicine ball that I purchased a few weeks ago. At this point, it's important to mention that we worked shoulders first. We decided on the following 3 different med ball exercises: on knees facing each other about 8 ft from each other, standing about 8ft from each other w/two hand under-arm motion in throwing and seated tossing back/forth kind of rapidly. We did three sets of 30reps. It felt good AFTER, but was tough as we were going through each set since we worked shoulders pretty good. I felt like I had a really intense workout.

Fast-forward to this morning....I wake up and can barely lift my arms above my head. In conjunction with the deltoids work we did, man, the lactic acid was all over my muscle fibers and super-uncomfortable. It's mid-day now and it has somewhat dissipated, but my delts, bis, tris and forearms still feel pretty pumped.

Morale of the story: change up your workouts and do not fear the med ball! Who would have thought that 12lbs would have been the catalyst to a feeling of soreness and a reality of being pumped the next day?

Enjoy TER-KEY Day, ya'll!

2007-11-22T11:34:00.001-05:00

Apparently, I am the FLASH

2007-11-15T23:10:00.001-05:00

Who are you?

Formal Education is Fashionable

2007-11-05T21:43:00.001-05:00

This post is brought to you by any college dropout you may know in your life...Allow me to drill down further...I made many friends in my undergrad years and a few more in my grad years and it's always an interesting exercise when I reflect on those who I kept in touch with who never finished the program that they started with me. I have an interesting perspective on formal education. I am all for it, but unless you are in school for the simple "love of learning", you have a goal in mind and typically that goal includes being able to put food on your table and a roof over your head. Degrees do not impress me in any way. I have a BS, MS and a post-grad certificate and will be working on a 2nd MS in January. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy learning and building my professional network, but in no way do I think college dropouts are "dumb" if they find other ways to provide for themselves and their families. A friend I work with and I were discussing a crack on his windshield. I said, "I went to school with a guy who owns a windshield repair business. Should I call him and ask if he can take care of you?" My friend says, "Ok." I called the guy, some logistics were worked out and my friend ended up going there and getting this taken care of. My friend shows me the business card of the guy who took care of his windshield and says, "Look at how many of these shops he owns." The owner is a college dropout, but he lives in a better area than I do, drives a nicer car and his business is growing. Small business ownership is where it's at kids. Degrees are nice to hang on the wall, but the risk/reward of jumping out of the "expected path" to enlightenment can also work. It's been said that people hate working 80-100hrs a week for someone else, but are willing to do that for themselves trying to establish/grow a business.

Here are some famous college dropouts to cogitate on:
Bill Gates
Steve Jobs
Michael Dell
Tom Hanks

My point is that the US pushes formal education as if that is the ONLY option to self-sufficiency and although EDUCATION is definitely the key, formal education in respect to a University setting is not and should not be the only way to be a productive member of society and a "well-rounded" citizen.

I keep leaning over and staring into the entrepreneurial pool and one day I will jump in....

Does this look like 18K to you?

2007-10-31T21:46:00.000-04:00

Haha!

I stumbled upon this "deal" at Overstock. and literally laughed out loud at the notion of anyone paying 18THOU for a time piece ~~as compared to 24K~~ and then getting it shipped for $1.00. How comforting is it knowing that your 18Grand is going through the USPS, FedEx or Brown like every other piece of crap being sent for $1.00?

18,000 for a stupid watch?! Freaking amazing....

An almost 5hour Blow Job...

2007-10-28T19:17:00.000-04:00

We're talking home improvement here you gutter-minded sea donkeys! :p Cellulose Insulation in my attic is what was blown, to be exact. What I had planned to take 2-2.5 hrs was double that and man did it suck....or actually, it really blew.

They changed out the machines at the Home Depot near me and this "new&improved" version was not that great.

This took place on Friday night. My bro-in-law helped me out since you do need two people to do this. I was in the attic with the 80ft of tubing to spray the insulation and my bro-in-law was in the garage feeding the machine (aka hopper) each of the 60 bags of this stuff. Correct, I said 60 bags! Each bag covered 40square feet. What can I say, I was going for a high R Value and I was able to achieve that based on my measurements and a guide they gave us at Home Depot. If you have one roll of traditional insulation (the pink ish that makes you itch and you actually roll it out), then you have approximately R19. I wanted to achieve R50. I actually ended up with about R40 because the machine we rented from HD was slow and as you added the additional 40ft of tubing to be at 80ft to reach the corners of the house, the power was further compromised and that is what actually made the job take longer than it needed to; I actually said F it and was left with 10bags that we just brought back since I still made a drastic improvement in my insulation anyway. THAT is the part that pissed me off. My attic is unfinished, so I was basically Spider-Man up there walking on joists and repositioning a powerful light so I could see what was going on. Had to wear a mask, safety glasses, hat and long sleeves. The inside of the mask was jet black and filled with all kinds of nastiness. If it were summer, I would have had a heat stroke, indeed, but the fall temps helped immensely.

Anyway, thank God that crap is over and I hope to save some cash on my utilities with this action over time.

Reason 2,478 why I like APPLE

2007-10-17T21:20:00.000-04:00

Today, Steve Jobs mentioned that the iPhone will be open to developers. Is that big news, you ask? H-U-G-E NEWS indeed! It was the right thing to do. It was somewhat of a change in direction by Apple based on a recent update that basically "bricked" people's phones who unlocked them for other carriers since AT&T is the primary carrier at the moment for service. In the microwave society we exist in, not allowing people to use your technology for purposes outside of your simple intentions is very bad. It may please shareholders, but you alienate your consumer. Alienation is bad. This will do nothing but move more iPhones for Apple and REALLY cause Motorola, Nokia and Sony to step up their game in terms of hardware and cause rewriting of lots-o-business plans out there.

I saw another report that has Apple #3 in terms of market share behind Dell and HP for Q3; that is a sidenote because this post is more about one hardware component that Apple has put out.

I expect hundreds of apps to be built within the next few weeks.

I'm waiting for 1-2more price drops before I actually get one, but I can see an eventual purchase of the iPod Touch although I would have to get more apps on it because I don't necessarily care about absolutely getting an iPhone and it being an all-in-one super device for me. I am just not a big fan of all-in-one devices as a whole. We'll see what happens, but Apple continues to innovate and get more people to pay attention.

Carbon Footprints

2007-10-12T23:08:00.000-04:00

The other day, I was looking at some propaganda literature from one of my utility companies and it had a small postcard mentioning a new program customers could join that would "offset carbon emissions" and help the environment; reduce your carbon footprint, in other words.

Well, I am all for helping the environment and Carbon Offsetting is the rage right now. Just ask big Al who just picked up a Nobel peace prize for some of his work and attention to environmental issues. Not only are utility companies trying to push consumers over the edge by appealing to their emotions, but airlines are now on board and asking for X amount of dollars to offset your flight and save the earth.

Again, I am all for tangible and concrete actions on reducing waste and truly minimizing emissions and guys like Al do a good service to the planet when they shift people's thinking.....to a point. Don't try and scare me into action or try and pull my heart strings to get me to open my purse strings.

I have an issue when no hard science exists to truly quantify carbon emissions and the idea of my giving $50 to an airline to ~~allegedly~~ plant some trees to offset my plane trip is an absolute scam and consumers are blind sheep that think throwing some cash for a cause will cure the problem. What would be more likely to help the cause would be a severe reduction in SUV purchases, more local purchase of goods and services and heavy R&D into alternative energy and no dependence on oil, but since our government cannot tax the sun or the wind, you can forget those two options for taking us off the grid........People need to start thinking!

Maybe she thought he was Asian...yeah, that's it..

2007-10-04T20:40:00.001-04:00

Oh brother.....this episode is indicative of the vast cultural awareness that is possessed by most Americans. The other day, a lady at work brings a guy over to my cube and asks me if "Mr Bla-bla-bla" (insert ethnic last name) is around and I said, "well, he is in the building, but just not around here." And she proceeds to tell me that the guy she is walking with has just arrived from India and "Mr Bla-bla-bla" could probably relate to him. Of course, I was completely aware that "Mr Bla-bla-bla" is actually from Pakistan and NOT India and was pretty sure that these two guys would be unable to communicate in their native tongue. There are hundreds of thousands of people within the country of India that cannot even communicate with each other due to dialect differences. After this foolish woman walked away, I leaned back and looked at another coworker and asked, "How is Mr Bla-bla-bla going to relate to this guy from India when the guy she is walking with speaks better English than her and does she even know that Pakistan is not located within India?"

My point is that the ignorance of Americans and geography/culture/language is pretty sickening. Ethnocentrism is everywhere in this country.

Trilingual = Three Languages
Bilingual = Two Languages
Monolingual = American

What a joke!

Ad of the Day

2007-09-27T23:56:00.000-04:00

I'm not a Harley guy by any stretch although I appreciate seeing those machines up close, but this ad is pretty hilarious to me. I literally laughed out loud when I saw this.

The Mighty Race Card....

2007-09-19T23:38:00.001-04:00

Here we go again. There are two prominent sports figures in the midst of controversial circumstances this week. The first is OJ who posted bail today after being charged with 10 felony counts for trying to steal back some of his memorabilia that was ~~allegedly~~ stolen from him and these memorabilia "dealers" were in some bootleg Vegas casino room. The second individual involved in a somewhat controversial circumstance would be Donovan Mcnabb who made some comments in an interview on HBO in which he makes the claim that Black QBs are criticized more than White QBs in Pro Football.

I'll address OJ first. #1, the guy is a complete idiot for being involved in a situation that so many of the shady characters involved could set him up. Not that I know it was a setup, but someone with the legal track record that he has just needs to stay out of any situation that even appears like he could be charged in anyway with a crime. For the record, I do believe that "If the gloves don't fit, you've got to acquit" and like you or I, he got his day in court and high priced legal Dream Team or not, he played within the rules that the US judicial system has created...Detroit is a very polarized city when issues of race arise thanks to Coleman Young and so many others who have corrupted the local government here. Racism is alive and well around here. Naturally, people have an opinion on OJ. I have heard black men/women say that OJ is an embarrassment to them and I have also heard people defend the guy for this latest incident and actually having the nerve to say that "the system" is just trying to take him down. Are you kidding me? You or I do that and this is a done deal and we are sitting in jail for a loooong time, but celeb status in the US is a funny situation that certainly changes the rules. My point on bringing up OJ is that his whole situation has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with his race. It has to do with him being an arrogant ~~former~~ celeb who is hiding out in FL since the law there tells him that he does not have to relinquish all income/assets to the Goldman family for whom won a Civil suit against him after his federal trial. And we wonder why FL cannot vote correctly in elections. :p

Anyway, I have heard that since "there are no black people in Vegas" that OJ would not get a fair trial. Again, complete BS and a completely myopic view on legal issues. The guy is everything that is wrong with celebrity and THAT is the reason for him dodging the bullet the first time around. Who can save him now? Johnny Cochran is not on this earth anymore and who would want to represent this fool? Sheesh, it's NOT a race issue in any way. People need to wake up!

On to McNabb. QB in the NFL is THE most scrutinized position in sports. No question on that. Well, the Eagles are in the midst of an implosion. McNabb is not the same since coming back from a severe leg injury and is also not getting any younger. His Receivers are trash and Westbrook is THE MVP of that team thus far this year, but McNabb pulled the race card during an HBO interview like a moron. 4 short years ago when Dan's favorite conservative, Rush Limbaugh had a brief stint doing some broadcasting for the NFL, he tried to stir the pot and say that McNabb was not a great QB and that the media overrated him only because he was black. Well, McNabb showed nothing but class in his response to the statements made by Rush and said that he wanted to be judged as a QB and not a black QB.......Again, 4 SHORT years ago this was said and now, McNabb does not have the cojones to say he just wants out of Philly and quickly pulled the race card to be his scapegoat. Garbage!

Race is one of the most important things in my life, but playing that card shows a lack of character and people actually discredit their race when they pull that crap.

Cool Product-O-The Day

2007-09-15T21:48:00.000-04:00

If I were a truck guy and a really consistent tailgating-kind of guy, this thing would be mine!

P.S.,
Peep the larger size of the pic. It's so wack! LOL! Apparently if you have a grill on your trailer hitch, you get a chick on your hip, by default. :p

I am Alpha Male....Hear me snore!

2007-09-10T21:19:00.000-04:00

I was discussing a particular issue at work with a female-type and the concept of 'alpha male' came up. She asked me if I or men I know consider that an actual quality? I said, "Well, every man has an alter ego and within the animal kingdom, instinct supersedes all." I was joking of course. A human male has free will unlike animals... and I do certainly believe that the testosterone fueled nature of a male contributes to the constant competitive nature and that makes many of us lean toward "alpha-maleness" in daily living....If you are a man and do not endorse physical competition (sports, working out, cross-training of any kind, etc.), nothing I have just said means anything to you and I expect you to just sit and think about magnesium sulfate ~~that would be epsom salts~~ baths for your delicate feet and have your beard ~~best lady friend from high school~~finish waxing your arm hairs.....

A quick wiki search yields the most hilarious of definitions: An alpha male or alpha female is the individual in the community to whom the others follow and defer. Humans and their nearest species-relatives, the chimpanzees, show deference to the alpha of the community by ritualized gestures such as bowing, allowing the alpha to walk first in a procession, or standing aside when the alpha challenges. Canines also show deference to the alpha male in their pack, by allowing him to be the first to eat and the first to mate....

Pure comedy!

Summer is slipping away....

2007-09-04T22:14:00.000-04:00

I was reminded of this cruel reality this morning when I pulled two of my tomato plants out of the ground since they had finished providing the bounty of fruit that has been a resounding success this year. I have 5 tomato plants still in the ground, but their life cycle is soon to end as well. A few green pepper, eggplant, basil and parsley abound, but seem to be wearing out their welcome. Summer was great this year in terms of my garden. I don't look forward to winter and store-bought produce. Fall can be nice. I need to take advantage of the color change and go up north or west for some shooting (pics, that is). We'll see what happens. 2007 is almost in the record books. Time has wings...

Somedays are better than others...

2007-08-28T22:30:00.000-04:00

....like the days when your twin does not feel like rearing it's ugly body on the side of your face...

Kanye To The....

2007-08-17T19:25:00.000-04:00

Here is the wackest image on a Friday of your boy, Kanye West.

I've been a fan since back in 2004 when College Dropout debuted. Love him or hate him, the guy makes a statement;lyrically he is pretty unique and a top 5 MC easily. He's #8 on the 2007 Forbes list for hip-hop artists and a fashion icon.

I don't care about the guy's political beliefs and probably would not rock 50% of what he wears, but he has talent and space in my iTunes library indeed.

Peep the vid of his soon to be released album with another fav of mine, Daft Punk.

M in a Cube

2007-08-13T23:03:00.000-04:00

You can also enjoy the awesomeness that is Rubik's Cuber at your leisure.

756 HRs!!

2007-08-08T22:12:00.000-04:00

..and BaROID Bonds is the owner of one of the most revered records in all of professional sports. Hank Aaron was robbed! Barry has had more juice pumped into him than Churches Chicken....................allegedly.

My cheers will be directed to A-ROD to shatter Bonds tainted record.

Where was I today?

2007-08-05T00:12:00.000-04:00

I heard earlier in the week that my Lions were having an open practice. There was no cost for the public to get in and watch for 90min as the hometown team went through BS plays and very light contact drills. Either way, it was cool and our new first round pick, Calvin Johnson is a beast ~~who just signed a 6year/64million contract~~! Dude is huge. We expect big things from him this year. I am seriously itching for some football. Oso, you feel me? Man, Fantasy is bad enough, but the actual nfl season needs to start ASAP!

The pic of Roy Williams slapping five to this silly bride and groom was taken by me because I thought it was an interesting scene from the day. I'll get a few more images on flickr tomorrow.

Perfect fit for my driveway...

2007-08-01T20:54:00.000-04:00

Behold, the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

First shown at the Paris Auto Show in '06, it can be yours for a cool $200,000 in late 2008. I'll take one now please..... The retro-styled racer features a 4.7-liter, 450hp V8 engine, carbon fiber body with steel chassis, a 6-speed robotic gearbox, 20" wheels, and looks that could bring a grown man ~~like me~~ to his knees.

To tat or not to tat....THAT is the ?

2007-07-25T22:09:00.001-04:00

I was talking with L the other night about tats. No, not that I am considering one. Not my bag. Love the art, love the symbolism, even know of great designs I would be proud of. The main issue I have is that I will not be a youthful, tight-fleshed, streamlined specimen forever. An old man with tats is really not that cool. Unless dude owns a tat studio or "lives the lifestyle", it really, again, is not that cool.

I have friends who have tats and it's cool for them, but call me when they are in their 60's and that tribal art, asian script or cross have changed shapes and fade into their sagging flesh. It's not a pretty picture people. Again, I love the art, but the human body ages and does not maintain it's elasticity. Forever is too long in the world of tats and don't even bring up the idea of "getting them lasered off should you grow tired of the design or break up with the chick you inscribed on your triceps. I'll stick with other addictions and leave the ink to the pros....

Heelys

2007-07-12T22:20:00.001-04:00

Tell me that anyone reading this blog has not heard of OR seen these Heelys sneaks/rollers and subsequent knock-offs? I thought of this concept years ago as a kid and some schmuck has made millions by getting these things made in a sweatshop for the past few years. I'm jealous. :p

Anyway, anyone older than 11 wearing these things is a loser, but I think they are really cool and would have loved to have a pair back in the day. I think it's hilarious that I can be walking in the mall and one second a kid is walking and the next they are whipping by me. Of course, the downside is the spike in emergency room visits, but no risk = no reward, right? Oh, to be a child again and live free with wheeled heels. LOL!

My Movie of The Year!

2007-07-08T21:49:00.000-04:00

Saw it last night.

Amazing!

Tried to find flaws; found none.

Michael Bay owns Hollywood; He should.

The sequel will have MUCH to compete with.

I could watch it 10 more times.

If a piece of luggage played me in a movie...

2007-07-05T20:50:00.001-04:00

The Hero 20" upright better get the role. Man, I don't trip over luggage under normal conditions, but the Alexander McQueen design on this is high art for sure. Plus, freaking out innocent bystanders using nothing but your luggage gets 50cool pts in my eyes. As much as I love this product though, $750 for it makes it slightly out of reach and I think I can live with that.

Old Timers?

2007-07-01T23:24:00.000-04:00

Here we go again with another account of the things I hear and I just don't know how my luck is such that it happens so frequently to me. So, we were downtown recetly and I brought my camera and was shooting and took a quick break to switch out lenses and I overheard a conversation that this young girl was having with her friend. "bla-bla-bla and my grandmother has Old Timers....." My ears perked up and I thought to myself, "Self, you did not just hear what you thought you heard, right?" Indeed. As the conversation went on and examples of impaired memory and dementia came to light.....So, I had to restrain myself from calmly walking over to her and yelling: "OLD TIMERS means nothing!! It's ALZHEIMER'S you idiot!!" I just hate how some people say things without thinking. Here are a few more examples of american english phrases that drive me crazy, "Alls I'm saying...." and "Me, personally......"

Disgraceful

2007-06-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

Defined as: giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputation.

I have nothing else to say.

Too much airplay X2!

2007-06-20T09:50:00.000-04:00

Man, I am so tired of Akon (cross b/w Flava Flav and Shabba Ranks) and T-Pain (thinks he's the new Teddy Riley with that stupid computer voice on EVERY track). I suppose I can tolerate either one making a cameo on another artists track for one verse, but outside of that, I'm annoyed. Part of it is that Detroit DJs play the $hite out of them, but added to the full-fledged lack of creativity in r&b and hip-hop right now, these two jabronis are making sick money! When will people wake up and see the fraud before our eyes?!

That's all for now.

Father's Day Paradox

2007-06-17T16:36:00.000-04:00

It's kind of interesting in the era of equal rights and supposed absence of double standards in terms of men vs women roles and societal norms in certain societies that today, Father's Day is a hardly a blip on the map of marketing for this "holiday". Flip the script and Mother's Day gets all the pub....as it should, since the mother is who delivers the child into this world, but as the highly overused saying goes, "It takes two to tango" and without the "help" of a father ~~or at least a trip to THE BANK"~~ human life does not spontaneously occur. As a newly crowned father, I take no offense to Mother's Day getting much more of the deserved fanfare. It's 100% fine with me, but I know there are guys out there who like to play the "equal rights" card for something as silly as a day on the calendar that makes them feel good about themselves when their child gets them a wack tie or some other trinket. I did fine today, but I don't need a day to remind me of how a father needs to be. Everyday is Father's Day for those who take it seriously.

Current Obsession

2007-06-06T23:09:00.000-04:00

I'm in love. Why must I be a responsible parent? :( Why can I not live out my MotoGP dreams on this insane ride?! Sporting a special Italian flag-inspired green, white and red color scheme, the Ducati Superbike 1098 S Tricolore (~~for a low~~$25,000) produces 160-hp and 90.4lbs/ft of torque, making it the most powerful twin-cylinder motorcycle in the world. It's also the lightest open class Superbike available, weighing only 381 pounds. Parts like Brembo brakes, lightweight alloy Marchesini wheels, and a 102-dB Termignoni racing muffler kit with dedicated ECU help make the Tricolore the fastest stopping and quickest lapping Ducati in history.

I need to quickly step away from the monitor....

Hall of Fame IDIOT!!

2007-06-04T00:48:00.000-04:00

Oh man, I am pretty pissed right now. I was surfing cyberspace and hit up espn and read this story. It involves one of my ~~former~~ favorite baseball players, Gary Sheffield. He truly was one of my favorites, but the anger in his heart has really changed my view. This piece of trash claims his theory for why there are not as many blacks in the MLB than there are Latinos is that blacks are "less likely to be controlled." Here is the best set of quotes from the story: "Where I'm from, you can't control us. You might get a guy to do it that way for a while because he wants to benefit, but in the end, he is going to go back to being who he is. And that's a person that you're going to talk to with respect, you're going to talk to like a man.

"These are the things my race demands. So, if you're equally good as this Latin player, guess who's going to get sent home? I know a lot of players that are home now can outplay a lot of these guys."

Are you frikkin kidding me?! Last time I checked, outplaying anyone in the pro level would land you on a squad, so for this idiot to claim that Latin players are just more susceptible to "being controlled" is just pure ignorance. I can promise you that if this were a white guy saying this about black players, it would be front page news for Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, but this will be just a blip on the espn homepage for a few hrs and disappear. I can assure you that I will be firing off emails to the Tigers and several other sources to get some attention to this ignorance until this idiot realizes what a completely stupid "theory" he has.

It's not that difficult, black kids don't play baseball because they like basketball and football. Simple as that. Baseball is probably just not "cool" to them. Like soccer, hockey, lacrosse, etc. Does that mean those sports have people in them that are easily controlled as well?

Gary Sheffield is a moron and I hope he gets hit with a pitch the next time he's at bat.

Buffalo Soldier

2007-05-27T11:53:00.000-04:00

Well, maybe not, but we had buffalo meat last night. I bought it two days ago at a somewhat local Amish store where I buy chicken, pork and the occasional dairy product. Reason for buying from the Amish? Funny you should ask. They do not use pesticides in their produce, hormones or antibiotics in their meats and the distance traveled to market is not too far. If thinking locally and acting globally is what people intend to endorse, the Amish have made a career of that by selling to people like me. Oh, and another small factor influences my decision to buy from them--TASTE. Are you kidding me?! The chicken ACTUALLY tastes like chicken and pork, like pork. We had pernil yesterday for lunch and all I can say is WOW! Seriously, it was frikkin amazing. Anyway, back to the buffalo. It was a 1lb of ground buffalo meat. L and I thought it would be a good idea to make burgers with it. She seasoned it up with the following: Adobo, Mrs Dash, Worcestershire sauce, vidalia onions, yellow bell pepper and red bell pepper. Cooked on medium (due to the meat being extremely lean)...basically "slow and low" on a grill pan on top of the stove. Then the moment of truth came. She was MUCH MORE nervous than I was. I had been reading about buffalo meat for some time and just never found a location that had OR a location where it even looked good. So, I took a bite first and it was great! L even liked it and that was nice to see since I tend to be more of risk-taker with atypical foods. We only ate one each because they are pretty filling and the burgers were not that big; big enough for a nice wheat bun. The 1lb of meat yielded about 7-8 patties. I will buy it again, but I do think it is very important to get that type of meat from a reputable seller because we are not talking about something that you can find every week and you don't want your experience (if you have never tasted it) to be a bad one due to a lower grade product. The taste was not game-y (like venison) at all and I highly recommend you get your hands on some buffalo. It does have a distinct taste that is kind of tough to describe, but it really is a nice mild taste. The Amish store only had ground buffalo, but I would like to try some ribs or a tenderloin one of these days, but I have probably hit my buffalo meat quota for the next month, but I will definitely eat it again.

Another athlete who should just shut his mouth...

2007-05-23T22:33:00.000-04:00

Here we go again...Unless you have been under a rock and those of you who do not follow pro US sports might as well stay under your rocks, you have no doubt heard the latest episode of controversy surrounding Atlanta Falcons QB, Michael Vick. Of course, it does not help him that another pro player who plays for the Washington Redskins, Clinton Portis ~~who went to THE U and that is already a strike against him~~ basically says that people need to "mind their own business" since the story came out about the ALLEGED dog fighting compound that was found at one of Vick's houses in VA. Mind their own business? Are you kidding me?! These friggin millionaires truly believe they rule the world and anyone questioning anything they do should just get out of their way. Amazing. I am as passionate a sports fan as the next guy, but I will not sit around and really believe that just because a guy can throw a ball 100yards or run a 4.2 40 that he is above the law and that the media is just picking on him. Please!

On the one hand I absolutely agree with Charles Barkley doing that Nike commercial several years ago and saying that "Parents should be role models" and that he was not one, but the fact of the matter is that there are hundreds of thousands of horrible parents out there that kids cannot even count on and they try to find other sources of inspiration. Pro Athletes will undoubtedly fall into that category and many of these stupid guys fail to appreciate that fact and are only out for themselves and try to live the SAME life they did BEFORE they were as famous as they currently are. Bunch of idiots! Again, I love sports, but I have NEVER and will NEVER put these guys on a pedestal that many people do. They bleed just like me. Put a mic in their grills and they pop off like a bunch of low class pieces of trash. I laugh at those stories that come out many years after many of these pros are not in the spotlight anymore and they are broke and/or in major trouble with the law. True emptiness inside.

The ATL needs a new field general!

The Genius of a Car Dealership

2007-05-16T09:21:00.000-04:00

I had to bring the Mazda in yesterday morning for a recall (a computer module update and a separate fan wiring issue). I had about an hour to kill. I brought my notebook to spend some time catching up on news and other events. To my dismay, there was no wireless connection to be utilized. I asked one of the sales guys on the showroom floor about this and he says, "You are the 4th person to ask me about this today." I said, "Well, it is 2007 and people expect these things." He says, "I know what you mean. We are the only building without it. You should try VW." This is a pretty big collection of dealers where I brought the car to. From Hummer to Vdub, to GMC and Mercedes. There is a grouping of various buildings. Mazda is next to VW, so I walked over there after shooting the ish with the Mazda salesguy talking about what is in the future for Mazda vehicles and things like that. Well, VW's connection was down! Man, I was kind of pissed. Oh well. It was a nice day and I just decided to walk around and peep the rides and absorb the sticker shock of various models. The funny thing to me was that you had all these vehicles 18K-60K in a dirt (with plenty-o-rocks) lot and sporadic potholes and things like that. I even caught some of the porters pushing these cars to the rpm limit as they made their way to the prep area building to clean up the rides so that people could take delivery of their new cars. That whole situation just further confirmed my distrust of people who have access to my car keys. I NEVER get valet. I always stay at the mechanic shop if my car needs work unless it happens to be a situation in which 3+ hrs will be involved. Fortunately, it's been a few years that that has happened. I just know many people have no regard for property that is not their own and that is pretty sad.

Heartless Criminal

2007-05-12T21:16:00.000-04:00

I was doing a rare thing last night and that was watching TV. I caught this story and I was truly upset in the sense of having a heart filled with emotion that went from a high level of anger to sadness for the man (Mr. Sims) involved in that truly unfortunate circumstance of getting carjacked by some 22year old coward who beat Mr. Sims (who is 91 years old) and stole his Malibu. How does a kid have so much disregard for an elder that he would take the time to beat that person just to get in their car and drive away with a complete lack of conscience or respect in anyway? Man, the video is absolute sadness and I was just playing the scene in my mind over and over again and thinking if that were my grandfather how enraged I would be. Seriously, I would need to be restrained in a courtroom because anything in my reach would immediately make its way to the body of the attacker. This stupid coward (Deonte Edward Bradley) has been charged and I hope the judge throws the book at him and this idiot gets destroyed in jail. I think paying for him to rot in a jail cell is not really any significant payback for what he did, but he'll get his in a very bad way. I don't know about how the prison culture deals with guys who beat the elderly and am not sure if it is on the same level of a pedophile or anything like that because I know guys who do that are moving targets in jail (as they should be!) and I really hope this coward gets to be some inmates punching bag because he deserves nothing good and is pure evil. I read news everyday, but this is one of those stories that pissed me off enough to post on it.

Trip to IKEA

2007-05-07T18:53:00.000-04:00

Today, we were both off from work and IKEA was the planned destination. My sister-inlaw has never been, so this was a new experience for her. We also took M for the day that we knew would be long. We arrived shortly after they opened for the day (just after 10am) and it was nice in that it was pretty relaxing and not the usual madhouse that I have come to expect. I knew there were a few items I was ready to purchase and of course, we even bought a few things we had no intentions of purchasing, but at the prices of so many items being quite low, it worked out fine and still below the agreed upon budget. None of us lost our minds and just blindly bought things as a few people we noticed there doing.

The one interesting thing about today's trip was to the IKEA Restaurant. I have never been there. Usually a trip meant getting items and leaving since that usually took several hours, but we decided to try out the food today. Man, I was really impressed. Maybe it was because it was early and everyone was eager to do a good job, but the workers were cool and pretty helpful. I got a fresh mozzarella and roasted pepper panini and a lox salad with a bowl of vegetable soup. L got the same panini. J got Swedish meatballs, potatoes and steamed vegetables. The desert was excellent as well. Pieces of torts and cakes at super low prices that were good quality. The Swedish coffee was bangin'. I would eat there again in a heartbeat. As a totally unanticipated bonus, we got this pear flavored sparking juice that reminded me of CocoRico and I have NO IDEA how that happened, but it did and it had no coco of any type within it. It was a product of Spain and it was just one of those things that just sets of memories as I hope some of you can relate to. Very weird how the environment triggers thoughts and feelings about certain experiences. Either way, the trip was a success and the Restaurant is very good.

Technology Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....

2007-04-30T19:27:00.000-04:00

Man, I am in a difficult position in that I want to improve my photoshop skills and feel by upgrading some of my technology (mainly my monitor, but I could use a serious upgrade in the processing dept. as well) to a dual monitor setup (one as a palette and one as the main canvas area) so my screen real estate is vastly improved thus aligning the chi, thus producing a more consisten final product....The only thing standing in my way is the reality of actually having to throw cash at this idea. :( I always envision driving down the street and a box of two 22" lcds with great specs falling out of a truck and me being there to prevent these pieces of technology from being destroyed by another driver and doing the right thing and putting those boxes in my trunk since they had no ID on them for me to return them and then maybe, JUST maybe having the fortunate luck of bringing them home to actually get plugged in to my upgraded video card with two DVI inputs.......ok, that's lame....I need to spend money! :(

If I were one, I would be kind of pissed.......

2007-04-25T21:42:00.000-04:00

Where is the media coverage? Where are the PRO-WHITE banners and all the squeeky wheels? Should they protest against all the stores who carry these products? It's about as silly as the whole Imus episode.

By the way, these Tortilla Strips are so freaking bangin', I defy you to find a better strip of Masa Harina corn flour anywhere on this planet. We just finished the bag and I had to post on these things more so for the name of the company, but seriously, once you go GMGringo Tortialla Strips, you never go back...I just tried them because they were on sale at Whole Foods, but the MFs are prime time chips. Believe it!! I would buy them again in a heartbeat...Taste and see.

Some things make no sense to me....

2007-04-23T19:54:00.000-04:00

...like when people who have no idea how to play a sport and they get all laced up in high quality gear just to make the idea of them attempting something they have no business attempting seem that much more foolish. Exhibit A: I was in a park over the weekend and noticed some people playing softball; they were practicing. I saw this guy who was truly a disaster out in the field THINKING (based on most of his comments) that he was "just off" that day and would get it together eventually. Eventually never came. Dude had on some pretty expensive Nike cleats, UnderArmor from head to toe and he sucked! Why do people do things like that?! Back in the day when I would play basketball just about every other day, it would be the same thing with sneaks. Sheesh, these guys would show up with brand new Jordans or WHOEVER's kick was hot and their play would be utterly atrocious.

It would be like me getting expensive gear for something I am not that great at....Here are a few things. Golf. I don't play golf. I don't pretend like I play golf. I went to the range ONE time in my life and it was a disaster. Would an expensive driver help me smash it 300yds? Uh....no. My technique is horrible, therefore, a beginners to moderate hardware selection might be a better situation for someone like me. What else? Uh....Snowboarding. I bought mine from a place that sells used sporting goods. The board, bindings and boots were new, but the point is that if I dropped a few Gs on a Burton or some other techno-marvel of a snowboard, it would just be silly since #1--I am lucky to get out on a snow filled hill more than 5X in a season and #2--I don't think the X-Games are really in my future. So.......why spend the loot to just LOOK LIKE I am the real deal when I am certainly not. Part of my point is that in 2007, there is such a wide and appropriate range in middle-level gear that your casual weekend warrior would be ok to not go top-o-the-line....

Anyway, people just do interesting things and it makes me laugh....

This Road Leads to Menudo...

2007-04-16T06:49:00.000-04:00

Oh brother...Just what the world needs...ANOTHER "reality" show about song and occassional dance....Although this terrible concept will be sentenced to MTV Tr3s, I sense the butt of many jokes will be the result....A sad day for Ricans everywhere. :(

Perfect face for radio....

2007-04-12T21:10:00.000-04:00

CBS fired him ~~because of the ad dollars in jeopardy~~. I bet Sirius picks him up....

¡Felíz Pascua!

2007-04-08T12:46:00.000-04:00

Not that I am a proponent of animal abuse in anyway, but this pic just cracks me up. More so for the significance it has, plus it was road kill and you know it! Some cruel joker throw the eggs and basket in there for drama. A guy I worked with several years ago sends this pic to me during the week of Easter leading up to Sunday with the subject line, "Easter is Cancelled" and I just was not expecting to see that image. Coupled with the reality that I was pretty focused on a project I needed to get done for my boss, the pic almost made me fall out of my chair when I was peeping my inbox.

By the way, I hate COLD hard-boiled eggs. How do people eat that crap?! :( I do like hard-boiled eggs, but seconds after removing the shell and piping hot is the only way I can consume eggs in that form.

Ok, enjoy your day and watch the rabbits in road!

GRINDHOUSE

2007-04-04T08:50:00.000-04:00

For whatever reason, I seem to get caught up in the hype machine that is Quentin Tarantino. The guy is a total screwjob, but I cannot turn away....Not sure if it's because I see a bit of my own alter-ego in his antics. Not sure. In terms of Grindhouse, add in Robert Rodriguez (who I am a HUGE fan of) and I think I MIGHT actually drop some cash at the theater for the newest collabo by these guys. Who does not want to pay homage to B-movie thrillers of the 70s and 80? The combination of two feature-length segments (Planet Terror & Death Proof) into one flick has not been done recently, if at all. With Hollywood at a creative wasteland as of late, this might jumpstart some of the creativity that has been lacking.

If anything, the movie pics are high art and that has me caught up in it. Mix in some of Hollywood's femme fatales and good cinema might be produced. That remains to be seen, but this film will be out at the end of the week and your boy might peep it sooner rather than later....

WI travelin'

2007-04-01T00:44:00.000-04:00

I returned yesterday from a short trip for work from the Milwaukee, WI area. Where do I begin? How about the plane ride there. I was on the plane with a bunch of junior college softball-playing females. They were going home from a tournament in FL. Small talk was made and the subject of what do they do for fun in WI came up. I was told "Camping and Hunting" are the only two things to do in WI according to these 20somethings. Great. I thought the Packers and eating cheese would somehow find its way in, but it did not. Anyway, I must admit that we had no time to explore the intricacies of the city of Milwaukee and maybe I am giving a hollow judgment, but I still believe that WI is no place for me. Give me MI any day...potholes, silly local government issues, racial tensions, scandalous crimes and all. I never thought I would miss traffic on I94 or I75, but being in WI made me think about that and when I returned and got off the plane and into my car and hit the traffic, I was pretty glad to be here and not there. Could it be the bad experience I had at a piece of trash Holiday Inn? Maybe. Could it be the recommended restaurant on the busy main street we were on was not very good? Maybe. Several episodes throughout this short trip made me sour about WI. My advice to you is to keep driving if you go there or just go over to the Chi for some diversity and urban activity.

My ISP

2007-03-28T08:26:00.000-04:00

Lack of posts are due to a home connection that has been up/down the past two weeks. More on the details of me raising Hades to get compensation at a later date....I would rather not have a tv then be w/o a net connection. :(

3 Present Obsessions....

2007-03-19T22:48:00.000-04:00

1. Zante Currants--->Sheesh, these things are freakin' excellent. I never intentionally avoided currants in the past, but also never would typically seek them out in my dried fruit purchases. Well, a few weeks ago, I just thought, "Currants need me and I need them." I bought some and they are my newest staple. Great fiber, great taste and basically you could cut the average raisin in thirds and you have the size of currants, but with a more intense flavor. I throw them in plain yogurt, cereal, oatmeal and even pancakes. You should upgrade your dried fruit consumption to include these badboys.

2. Podcasts---> I have been aware of podcasts since they came out, but since I was not an extremely early adopter of the ipod, they were not a practical situation for me although you do NOT need an ipod to enjoy them, but the past 2yrs have been a good experience with podcasts and I. I really got into them when we got our treadmill and I have never looked back. I subscribe to over 30. The great thing is that these are FREE ~~because I would never pay for any~~ and they are excellent in terms of legit content. Some of the my subscribtions range from several National Geographic, NPR, various health/science/food shows and several others I enjoy. Get on this train before the FREE ride is over!

3. Sunday Newspaper---> I don't know. Maybe it's the feel of the paper or the ink or slightly raised type. With so much time spent getting news online or the occasional TV outlet, in the past and present, I would not really dedicate that much time ~~and money~~ to reading the local Sunday newspaper. Well, the past few months, I have purchased one on Sunday and it just feels like a retro trip, I suppose. Growing up, my family was never really a "newspaper family" and if I were anywhere that a paper was, I would typically hit the sports section and possibly the front page. Now, I still read sports, but it's not a knee jerk reaction since I definitely do the bulk of my sports reading online. I like front page stuff, but I focus on the nation/world section, features, home/food sections and down the line. Plus, the cost (99cents) for the paper is easily paid for by the numerous grocery coupons that are in it. It’s a win/win situation in my eyes.

Free Coffee Day @Starbucks

2007-03-15T20:34:00.000-04:00

Well, well....today was Starbucks Coffee Break Day and for the uninitiated ~~or those too lazy to click the link~~, that means they gave a free (that is FREE) 12oz coffee to anyone who asked between 10am and 12pm. A coworker was out in the vicinity of a Starbucks and I asked her to stop and grab me a cup if the line was not too long or if it were no trouble. Well, she did and all I can tell you is I have NO IDEA how people can live on coffee all day. I don't drink coffee at work...EVER. #1 I just don't require it to wake me up. #2 Maxwell House is not even coffee to me. #3 Unless I brew it right then and there and begin to sip, the taste is sub par at best. So, anyway, she brings me this coffee. I'm thinking to myself, "Self, how is it that a 12 oz seems like such a small cup when I see other people on a daily basis bring in Starbucks, Panera, Coffee Beanery, 7-11, Dunkin Doughnuts, etc. in cups or mugs 3X as large as what I had. Man, are these people sick? And, I was just drinking a pretty benign Breakfast Blend of Starbucks. These other people rock several espresso shots and other hardcore creations. Amazing.

Honestly, if I was able to get Starbucks free everyday, I would take a sip or two and toss the rest. I only go there if I have a gift card or someone decides they want to make a run and feels like paying. I think the company is the definition of hypocrisy, but that's another post. I sipped about 3oz of that free coffee today and it found it's home in my trash can.....

Disgusting Product-O-The Day

2007-03-11T23:26:00.002-04:00

What do you get when you cross a hot dog with a pizza? A sausage-crust pizza.

[Click image for more detail]

Only in Japan, baby!

Abercrombie and Disposable Income....

2007-03-08T20:10:00.000-05:00

I try to keep an eye on fashion trends so I am not a walking time warp for the 90s. I certainly don't jump at every new trend for the sake of it being "trendy", but I would be lying if I said I don't peep catalogs and my inbox does not occasionally get occupied with fashion news, future trends and industry tid bits. Well, today I was checking out this email from A&F. Call me crazy, but why is the demographic for that clothing plunging to the teen set? Really. The models are mostly in their teens and the styles are pretty overly casual. I know, I know, AF does use that stupid tag line of "Casual Luxury". Lame! What teen has the disposable income to drop $69 on a button up shirt, or $59 on a pair of "distressed" shorts or a polo. That is crazy. I would certainly not consider myself an AF person since I like to mix up my wardrobe and can usually find at least one piece from any store I go to or site I visit although I have a shirt or two from AF I got on clearance and notice at least the two I have to be of slightly higher quality than your average brand...SLIGHTLY. Certainly not enough to drop $69 on it several weeks before it hit clearance.
Back to my point of this post. Since it does seem AF's target audience is younger than I and many college students, how do these teen kids afford this crap? Man, I could go broke trying to get all the latest clothes from this place. I know the vibe in the store is like we are supposed to be transferred to the 90210 zip code and flossin' like we were in Bev. Hills, but come on... I guess daddy's credit cards keep these kids looking good and you can catch me at the clearance rack if you need me... :p

Local news can be tragic...

2007-03-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

I am sure you have heard about the story of the guy who strangled his wife and dismembered her in MI. Truly horrific, sad, numbing and any other adjective to describe a reality that seems stranger than fiction. The children (4 and 6) are the beneficiaries of a future without both parents due to an unparalleled selfishness on the part of the twisted actions of their father who committed this terrible crime to his family. There are so many details in this story that make a person sick and with the constant stream of media attention given to tragedies across the world, this story upsets me greatly. Is it because it happened locally? Is it because I have a child and could not imagine her being without her parents? Is it because you never REALLY know what happens within the four walls of people's homes? Does this do anything to confirm my distrust of human beings? Let me think about that....Uh, yes.

Say a prayer for these two kids because they have a rough future ahead of them. :(

I am what I eat....

2007-02-28T22:18:00.000-05:00

Are you? Or, I should say, I smell like what I eat... :p What I am getting at is are there certain foods that you eat that offer certain physiological responses more so than other people? Example 1: You've heard the story of eating asparagus and if you urinate soon (from 1 to 24hrs) after, that it has a really awful scent. Well, I am here to say that I LOVE asparagus, but avoid a bathroom after me at all costs if I consume several spears. It's bad, but it's my biology; I blame my genes. :p Example 2: Garlic. Sheesh....I realy love garlic and eat it weekly, but eating some Lebanese food with garlic paste will immediately begin diffusing from my skin. It's crazy...especially so, since I can actually smell it. It matters not if the garlic is cooked, sliced, minced or pressed, my biology reacts with it and the olfactory sense is stimulated beyond "normal". Example 3: Onions....Ok, you get the point.

Am I an anomaly or as common as the next cat?

In the spirit of Baby Posts....

2007-02-23T19:54:00.000-05:00

I bring to you the Sculpted Baby Cake....Actually,The Making of....

This is both disturbing and fascinating to me at the same time.....WHY...just WHY?

I wish all of you a great Friday and I will proably have nightmares tonight thanks to this vid... :p

The Miracle of Birth...

2007-02-21T20:59:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you may have heard about this story.

Amillia Taylor was born as the world's youngest surviving premature baby. Amillia was born at a Miami hospital after less than 22 weeks of development. Since then she's been incubating and is expected to go home soon.

Those tiny translucent feet are amazing. Hold your own hand out in front of you, and imagine those feet poking through your fingers. She was 10 OUNCES when born (280 grams), and 9.5 inches (240 cm). That's just longer than the length of your hand.

I think the science behind keeping this baby alive and soon to go home is amazing.

Oh, and the picture below is a peek into the labyrinth that is my mind in that sometimes I do a picture association with certain images....

Obesity, Fake nails and Tattoos

2007-02-17T12:19:00.000-05:00

So, we have all seen these people of the female variety that seem to focus their attention from the forearm to the fingers and cankles to the toes. What I mean is why is it that these women don't save the cash on getting their nails done on a weekly basis or the tats on their cankles or wrists and mix in a workout or two to work on the more global issue of their heart-taxing weight? Really. I remember as a young lad of 12 or 13, my mom (as many moms do) would be describing someone by saying, "She has a pretty face." Translation: Not too easy on the eyes and a nice person. Ok, I am not trying to come across as a complete superficial idiot, but that just makes me laugh. I'm certainly not the authority on looks, but I'm just pointing out the greater good for a society of people laying off the vanity in ONE area and focus on FULL vanity. LOL! Bump up that heart rate honey so that my insurance premiums don't keep sky rocketing because you love cupcakes and drive and not walk a city block on a consistent basis.

Anyway, obesity is just one aspect. I truly HATE fake nails. This post was inspired by a trip to the grocery store when my eyes played witness to this oBEAST young women with horrible fake nails and a rose on her wrist, but in the past I have noticed a disproportionate number of obese women who seem to think that getting their nails did and tats on wrists and ankles makes them hot. Not hot at all.....and that's all for now.

Inside the Actors Studio

2007-02-12T22:59:00.000-05:00

The Bravo cable channel is no secret to anyone, right? I don't usually make time to watch Bravo on a regular basis, but have been drawn to certain shows in the past as short-lived as it may have been. I had a break in my daily routine today and happen to be channel surfing and caught James Lipton and he had Dave Chappelle on the show. Talk about pure comedy....both Lipton and Chappelle had me cracking up. Seriously, you have to see that.

I'd love to see James Lipton pissed off. LOL! The guy is high drama anyway.

Bonus:
For all the Transformers fanboys out there, peep the Soundwave Interview, Part I.

Party Product-O-The Day?

2007-02-08T22:15:00.000-05:00

Then: great naval tragedy. Now: an adventures slide for your kids!

Buy it here.

Super Bowl Impressions

2007-02-05T17:47:00.000-05:00

Did your team win?

Oso,
No need to answer that one. :p Nice implosion Monsters of the Midway....Seriously though, that game was a waste of time. The commercials sucked (other than ONE from Doritos and ONE from Bud Light) majorly.

The first few min of the SB were decent, but it just went down hill from there....I think multiple turnovers is just sloppy play.

Was the weather a factor? Yes, but still. I expect minimal mistakes and a close game; that did not happen. Sometimes it ends up that way, sometimes it does not. This was pretty much a disappointment.

The halftime show was OK. I like Prince, but I just think the league went for a "safe act" and wanted no wardrobe malfunctions. Well, I don't recall seeing Prince's breast. Crisis averted. :p

I just kept thinking after each horrid commercial, "Wow, there goes ANOTHER 2.6million".....what a joke.

Now, I can just focus on the NBA and keep an eye on the off-season moves by my Lions.

Top 3 at this moment...

2007-02-03T13:20:00.000-05:00

My top three Hip-Hop singles are:

Make It Rain (the remix)--Fat Joe
Throw Some D's--Rich Boy
This Why I'm Hot--Mims

The Omnivore's Dilemma

2007-01-31T08:47:00.000-05:00

I recently finished this book from Michael Pollan and all I can say is the daily question of "What should I eat today?" has taken on a new meaning for me. I THOUGHT I was a conscious and concerned consumer when it comes to selecting the food I buy for myself or my family, but this book really shed some light on things in this country that I did not consider in the past to the extent that was discussed in the author’s research.

A few things:
Take corn (which is subsidized by the gov.) out of the US economy and a collapse will soon follow OR at least a radical shift in eating habits. Case in point, HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) is derived from corn. Take a look at most of the processed snacks, drinks and even bread that you eat and you will most likely find HFCS as a main ingredient. HFCS are man made; they are derived from corn through chemistry in a lab. Think CHEAP. At even half a penny cheaper than sugar or any other sweetener occurring in nature (like agave nectar, for example), you are talking about billions of dollars in savings for the huge food and drink companies that can then get dumped into marketing budgets. HFCS were not even a reality until the 70's and used commercially in the mid-eighties. If you look at the ingredients in a Coke in the early 80's, sugar was used to sweeten it. Check that now and you will find HFCS and possibly sugar as well, but HFCS will be more of primary ingredient. Again, COST.
The book also reminded me of how the USDA and FDA are just big business vehicles with "standards" and certainly not enough inspectors to truly screen a disgusting and horribly "grown" product (meat and poultry). I knew this already, but the author pointed out a story in which he spent time on a farm with a farmer who was getting so many roadblocks in front of him for having a meat processing operation because the USDA would certainly not want to be exposed with so many dirty secrets in how the US consumer's meat is processed. The bureaucracy that this farmer has to slowly go through is just ridiculous. For example, he has an open area and/or glass paned-viewing area where any visitor can see the processing (slaughter) of animals. That is UNHEARD OF for a big industrial meat processing operation since again, secrets of how the food supply is just not very sanitary or the well-being of the animals is not considered.
This book is not a PETA, tree-hugging love fest in any stretch of the imagination, but it is essentially the story of a writer who spent time with a few small scale farmers and was let in on the realities of how the USDA wants to choke out anyone not on a factory farm with animals that have never seen the light of day or the conditions of workers (mostly immigrant or illegal) is absolutely horrible. We all ask ourselves, "What am I going to eat today?" Do we care HOW our food was derived? Do we care if what we eat was created in a lab? Do we only concern ourselves with COST above any other variable? These questions are deep and the answers shed light on many of the issues in this country from a socio-economic, political, health and cultural perspective.
The book also shed light on how HUGE of a business ORGANIC has become and will continue to be. With some estimates saying growth is at 20% a year, you have the developings of a major player in the food business. Organic food producers need to make money though, so you have many companies who follow the lazy and insulting "guidelines" of the USDA to get that ORGANIC designation.
The book was nice a read with subtle transitions through its 20 chapters and I highly recommend it. Also, keep in mind this order for healthy produce and meat options: Local organic --> local conventional --> regional organic --> regional conventional --> country organic --> country conventional......you see where I am going? The further you go out, the more negative impact it can have on your health and the health of the environment.

People should think about these things.

Sprats in Oil

2007-01-26T20:54:00.000-05:00

So, the maintenance guy at my work is Russian. SUPER-RUSSIAN, even. This guy was an engineer back in his motherland and has done general maintenance jobs since he has been in the US. He is an absolute trip! His Russian accent is "POOOOR-FICT" (as he would say) and we talk about various subjects every few days. The other day, he is flipping out in his work area and calls me to help him with some "email problems". Well, I had a few min to spare and went into his area. First, his area. Man, the guy has been relegated to the bowels of our building. I mean, this area is like an oversized janitor closet-shipping/receiving area-nutty professor lab all in one. But, he has a desk and PC in it. Anyway, I go into his area and he is trippin' because his folder view has disappeared in Outlook due to some inadvertent key stroke. He dares not check any of the toolbar options to swiftly get it back as it was because he has some odd techno-phobia; well, dude is in his mid-sixties so I cut him full slack. I quickly get to the bottom of how insists on having his inbox sorted and all of his folders visible and he's happier than ish....Well, he wants to repay me for helping him. I refuse, but he insists he is going to bring me "special fish"..Hmmmmmm. Special fish, you say? My mind is racing down way too many mental highways beyond the scope of this post.....Well, we do talk food pretty frequently and today he actually brings me a can of Riga Smoked Sprats in Oil. To make a long explanation short, Riga = the largest city in the Baltic States and serves as a major cultural, educational, political, financial, commercial and industrial center in the Baltics. Sprats = small herring found in European waters. It is served smoked but can be eaten fresh, grilled or fried. He said Russians are crazy about this fish. So, I am hyped because I seriously love fish and have not had Sprat...knowingly, at least. I do think the whole Outlook fixing thing was just a coincidence because I brought him a can of smoked Trout in oil a few weeks ago and he told me he was going to bring me some Russian fish soon...I look forward to eating these Sprats (what a funny name) and if they rival the sardines I recently ate from Spain, my Russian friend may need to be the middle man for my newest addiction...We'll see.

Dog people

2007-01-24T10:11:00.000-05:00

It is a well known fact that I am NOT a dog person in any way, shape or form. It's not like I don't like dogs. It's more of the situation that I refuse to walk a dog with a bag and a scoop and pick up its waste. Are you kidding me? Since that would be the reality since I do not live in the sprawling country and could allow the dog to fertilize the earth, a pooper scooper would be a must in the burbs or a city setting. Plus, I just do not have the time to commit to a dog for its exercise when my own exercise is much more important and would not try to ever compromise my or my family life with a dog. I laugh when people work and go out 12-16hrs a day and leave their dog at home to experience mental and physical decline. It's pretty sad, actually. Anyway, I titled this post "dog people" since I don't understand you people. I was driving this morning and saw TWO people with dogs on their laps interfering with their arms as they were driving. These stupid people were letting the dog climb on them and I would just look over and have a look of utter disbelief? Where are the Five0 when you need them? Is that even illegal? It should be! Sheesh, they pull someone over for having a stupid air freshener hanging too low on their rearview mirror, but some moron can have a dog jumping on them like it's playtime and that's ok? Dog people, wake up!

Business Dress

2007-01-19T20:13:00.000-05:00

As someone who has worked in environments where business dress is mandatory and business casual was optional, I can say with absolute conviction that Western society is pretty much a collective group of Lemmings that embrace "dressing the part" as being something that by default makes people work harder or "appear" smarter. What a bunch of absolute horse caca! Are we that influenced by the fashion industry that the idea of dressing up makes one seem so much more "professional" and gets business deals done any more effectively?

Certainly, dressing within the fashion industry makes sense since the goal is to sell clothes and display what will be purchased by consumers, but any other industry? I think not. Wearing business attire does not translate into good hygiene or improved idea creation.

Does not actually DOING the work within an organization mean much more? Does taking ideas and delivering new products lose its luster if said ideas do not stem from someone with a suit on? Uh....no. Can a person wearing business dress still do sloppy work and not deliver intended results? Of course.

I happen to be thinking about this concept recently, when the EXACT idea was discussed by a very interesting person that some of you may know as the current owner of the Dallas Mavericks and billionaire, Mark Cuban. This guy is brilliant in so many ways. I knew of him before he became an NBA owner back when he sold broadcast.com. He's an extremely savvy business person and because of many of his efforts ~~and by "efforts", I mean obnoxious press conferences and ways to annoy David Stern~~, the NBA has instituted many improvements to their product. Anyway, he posted about this very subject and I like the angle he decided to go with.

I have well rounded interests and many aspects of the fashion industry fall in to what I decide to research and spend my time learning about and I really think business dress is such an overrated concept in industries outside of fashion that it's just archaic and really short-minded.

The sound from under the hood...

2007-01-17T08:37:00.000-05:00

Oh man, the Contour is in need...in need of a belt change. The noise it makes is pretty embarrassing on the rare occasions it decides to do its thing. Mix in some cold temps and you have a red-faced Rican with no place to hide. LOL! I am most sure that it is the serpentine belt that needs to be changed. The car is seven years old and it has not been changed before. The belt is in pretty decent condition though, therefore, I tend to just absorb the embarrassing sound and act like I just don't hear it when other drivers stare at me....LOL! Soon enough, it will get changed...soon enough.

Confessions on a Treadmill

2007-01-14T20:50:00.000-05:00

So, I have been the proud owner of a treadmill for just over two years. I have learned about different aspects of my training during that time and I am still learning each week that passes. I started off really hyped about finally having the means to run regardless of rain, snow or shine. In fact, too hyped was I. I would run everyday. The one thing I did know was to not try and become a marathon runner quickly. I knew it would take time. You see, I purposely don't have a gym membership because I just think I could be more efficient with my time at home with my own equipment. Obviously there are certain advantages to a gym, but that's another post; I REALLY miss cables though :(! Anyway, I still think I probably over trained at first when I first got my mill. I diagnosed myself with a bakers cyst on the back of one knee a few months in to running consistently. Sounds much worse than it is. All it required to heal was rest and rest I gave it and it disappeared and I felt much better. I just dropped the number of miles I would run and started to just run every other day and mix in other cross-training on the days I would not run. To some degree, I was doing that (the cross-training) anyway even though I was running more at first. The other thing I noticed was that I was dropping weight like crazy! My clothes were getting much more loose on me. To some people, that may be a good thing, but for me it was like I was back in high school again with my quest to gain weight rather than look like a bird cage from the waist up. :p Well, I found my healthy balance of running and I am ALMOST getting to the point were I am pretty comfortable with how my body will react to certain distances, time and calories burned. My LOOOOOOOOOONG term goal would certainly be a marathon. Come on. If Oprah ran one, I certainly can do it. I have to get a few 5Ks and half-marathons under my belt before going all out for 26miles though....The other reality is that runners tend to be pretty trim and not in possession of very defined muscle tone. I don't want to be a skeleton. I still would like to maintain an athletic physique, but I have noticed that my strength involved in free weight exercises has not improved. Could be a temporary plateau, but it has been like this for a few months. My max bench was 255 3yrs ago. I know I cannot get that up now. I know, I know. It truly is the tradeoff of running and I suppose I have accepted that and am fine with it, but it is a machismo thing that lingers from undergrad when I would be in the fitness center at WSU talking trash to friends hitting the weights like crazy. Running was NOT in the mix at all. 10min warm up jog was about it for me back in those days. Anyway, I am happy where my fitness level is at this point. It has shifted and I really wish I could mix in two workouts a day, but that would probably lead to me running away from the whole idea of having a job and a family...Uh, not good. :)

Blogger Beta

2007-01-12T22:57:00.000-05:00

Have all of you upgraded your accounts to it?

If so, do you like the changes?

If not, why not?

Holla!

Stupid Concept Vehicle of the Day

2007-01-08T22:53:00.000-05:00

Where do I even begin to dissect this trash?! What an insult to airstream. Ford wonders why they have tanked in market share? This ish is bound to cause accidents all over any place the sun decides to warm the earth. The hideous reflective paint is so progressive ~~not really~~. This thing looks like part airplane, part piece of dung. The only redeeming qualities lie under the hood; it's powered by a plug-in hydrogen hybrid fuel cell — named HySeries Drive — that operates under electric power and delivers the fuel economy equivalent to 41mpg.

I suppose that can make up for the sins of it's exoskeleton....no it can't. Who am I kidding...Man, if I make it to the auto show this year, I am going to laugh at that trash and head over to Toyota to see how real progressive designers operate.

Oprah's School

2007-01-06T22:04:00.000-05:00

I am sure all of you have heard about the school for girls in South Africa that Oprah opened. What's a billionaire to do when the criticisms start falling from the sky? I mean, is a school with great intentions anywhere on earth a bad thing? Mix in extremely disadvantaged (monetarily) kids and we still have a problem? People in that country were complaining because the school's campus is said to resemble a luxury hotel rather than the rundown schools most of the girls know. It contains state-of-the-art classrooms, computer and science labs, a library and theater as well as a wellness center. Grant it, a "wellness center" may be a bit much, but again, when a billionaire like Oprah puts her stamp on something, I am sure she is trying to do it real big. I don't see the problem with this at all....I also read that people in the US were pissed because she did not open something like that school in a hood in Chicago, New York or Detroit. Well, Oprah said that she visited several middle schools in the US and when she asked the kids what they really wanted in life, answers like iPod, Wii, Xbox kind of rubbed her the wrong way. When she asked the same kids in South Africa, they mentioned uniforms and supplies to go to school. I am really disturbed at the mentality of the spoiled and distracted American youth. Consumerism is in full force in this country. Poor people here are rich compared to many parts of the world. Education is but a bother for many children due to a crumbling family structure and "parents" who are more concerned with what they drive and what clothes they have on then if little Juan or Maria has extra homework on the weekend. It's absolute BS. This post is not about me actually agreeing with Oprah's talk show because I think she is all about appealing to middle-aged white women and is not well-respected in the African-American community. I don't care about her show...I just wanted to post about the importance of a school that will impact young lives and don't see the problem in her country of choice and hope the girls who earned their way into this opportunity will make the most of it and make positive contributions to this world and possibly create an opportunity for a future young person.

Empty promises to oneself....

2007-01-03T23:07:00.000-05:00

Ah...the start of a new year...In my eyes, the major difference is simply a new paper or virtual calendar. I have been laughing in my mind recently as I have been overhearing conversations at work about the various New Years Resolutions that people have been spewing out of their mouths. "Getting in shape" or "working out more" tend to always come up. Such a tired and abused concept. Really. I was also laughing today as I quickly ran into WF on my lunch hour to buy a few sale items. I drove past two separate gyms and the parking lots were jammed and I am sure were 2X as jammed after work hours. Gyms love a sucker. Several dozen suckers keep the gym lights on and pay for new equipment.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly think the world is a better place with fit and health conscious people, but fast forward to March of this year and I can assure you that the gym parking lots will not look as they look in January. Motivation dwindles. Bad habits die hard. People don't change.

Props to anyone who makes a resolution and keeps it. The way I look at it is that I don't need a New Year to trigger the start of something beneficial in my life that I can make happen. I believe in constant evaluation and immediate change or at least an attempt at anytime throughout the year...Not a complete lowering of your defenses to sit and wait for January 1st. Please!

So, did any of you fall into the New Year Resolution trap?

Bricks and Mortar sucks!

2006-12-30T22:00:00.000-05:00

Today was a case of those who would rather buy online, ~~like me~~ and those who have friends ~~or family~~ who would rather drag me to BB and deal with temporary holiday help who just talk out of both sides of their mouths...Sheesh, it was UNBELIEVABLE the number of contradictions uttered by those fools. And of course, we had to go there for the hot ticket category of HDTV. Outside of the Computers area, I am sure HD is the next big thing if not THE biggest area there. I understand the HD technology very well and was in the store for ONE cable..........ONE! Of course, my compatriot opens his mouth to confirm if his setup is correct like I already told him it was before we left his house, but for some reason he asks one of the clowns in the accessories area about how we have things...Blah, blah, blah, I walk over after checking prices on some other items and he says, "Explain the setup to the guy." I tell the story and after it's all said and done, when I had already spotted the 25ft cable we came there for as I walked up to both of them, the BB guy says, "You'll need Monster cable this and that." Correction sir. I would need a loan from my credit union to follow your advice...Idiot. I won't drown you with details on my verbal sparring session with this guy....So, we bounce over to the speakers section and listen to a pretty nice Klipsch set that was purchased soon thereafter. I confirm with the next blue shirt what he has pumping into those things and ask to see all wires so as to not have a secret amp out of sight that makes them sound better than what they are. Fine. This guy was much better than the two tools in the HD area. He pulled the receiver out of the cabinet and showed me everything and we followed the cables to the two speakers. Fine. Well, guess who decides to ask THIS guy about our setup? You guessed it...I finished explaining ish and the guy says, "Oh yeah, I would keep the setup you have." I said, "How interesting that you would contradict the guys in the HD area." He tells me in a low voice, "Those guys are morons. They think everyone comes in with absolutely zero knowledge of technology." Anyway, then it was a nice 35min wait in the line with only 5 people ahead of us when we got there....5 people!! Two did returns and the other three finalized their financing...Man, I wanted to pull my hair out. The only time I can say I ever go into BB is if I get a gift card, I get asked to go or I want to peep something I am going to just get online for much cheaper anyway...Thank God for the Internet! I have a few friends who have been in retail hell before and have told me some stories of the inner workings...BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY comes to mind. It's nice to actually deal with someone who is not a drone when you go to a bricks and mortar store....It's rare, but nice....Customer Service is dead Damas y Caballeros...

Sweet Product-O-The-Day

2006-12-28T20:00:00.000-05:00

If you were unlucky enough to snag a Wii this holiday season, how about one of the best boardgames of all time, Monopoly + Nintendo? The game features characters such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, Star Fox, and Wario, and the specialized pewter game pieces include a Donkey Kong barrel, Link's boots, a Hylian Shield, a NES controller, Mario's hat, and a Koopa shell.

This has to be one of the coolest editions I have seen.