Employment - Day 1096

03.31.2006

Today marks my 3rd Anniversary of working at Spiritus. I've never worked anywhere for 3 years in a row. I worked a little over 2 years at the Humana Hospital Pharmacy when I was in high school, but that was my first job and I was only 16 when I started, so I don't think that one counts as part of my "professional" career.

3 years and not only am I still working for Spiritus, I'm not thinking of leaving any time soon (well, at least not by my choice). A big part of it is JJ's management style. He does all the paperwork, bigwig interaction, and decision making, leaving me free to code. I like coding. I'm usually good at it so that makes me feel good about myself. I also like most of my co-workers (can you "like" your mortal enemy?). Except for the suck-the-will-to-live-out-of-you governement building we're currently forced to work from, everything's good. And the building's not that bad, it just comes with a lot of restrictions.

So now I start Year 4. I wonder what's in store for this one?

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South Beach Diet: Day 0

03.27.2006

Today is the day I start my new diet.

For one I'm not just randomly picking the latest fad and doing what I think I should. This time I've investigated what I'm supposed to do, what I'm supposed to eat, and what I should realistically expect.

For the past year I've been trying "low-fat". In the past year my weight has ranged from upwards of 402lbs down to 379lbs. Considering I became more active with karate, I would have thought that more weight would have been staying off, especially since my weight has been staying right around 390 for most of the past 6 months. Over the past few weeks, I started to pay more attention to what I was eating, since checking my Basal Metabolic Indicator shows I should be taking in a minimum of 2600 calories/day to maintain my weight, and I'm pretty sure I've been stating under that.

Most of the time I would have 2 cans of Slim-Fast for breakfast. It's quick, it's easy, it doesn't taste that bad. 190 calories/11 oz can. Twice a week, after karate, I would have another 2 cans for lunch. 2 meals through the day and I've had 760 calories. Add in a Coke and that ups it to around 980 calories, less that half of the alleged 2600 calories to maintain my weight.

Then I started looking at carbs. Everybody talks about carbs and how bad they are, so I decided that maybe I should look at those too.

1 can of Slim-Fast has 28g of carbs. The coke has 18g. So I'm taking in over 100g of carbs without much problem or even thinking about it. Maybe I should look into something low-carb?

And that is what led me to the South Beach diet. It's part Atkins but you eat more heart-conscious foods instead of a pound of bacon. It's NutriSystem without all the food being shipped to you. After reading the actual diet book explaining how the diet works, along with explanations of how carbs, proteins, and fats work in your body, I think I've at the very least got a better idea of how my body acts. I'm a carb addict. Give me a steak, loaded potato, and a couple of Cokes and I'm happy. Now I have to find a new way to be happy.

This morning I fixed myself an omelette with turkey, red peppers, green peppers, and a smattering of spices. This morning I didn't have a Coke or bread. This morning I weighed myself and saw I was at 396lbs. If I follow what the diet book says I can hope to be at 390 in a week. Makes me look forward to my blog entry next week....

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That's Hot

03.24.2006

This morning, while suffering a little insomnia, I heard a radio commercial that caught my ear.

"Do you suffer from excessive sweating? Do you sweat through your shirt even in the winter?"

Why, yes. Yes I do at times. I'm a sweaty bastard.

"Well now there's a cure.Botox Botulinum Toxin Type A."

Botox? A wrinkle free forehead is going to keep me from sweating like a pig?

"Botox is indicated for the treatment of severe primary axillary hyperhidrosis (severe underarm sweating)..." and then I stopped listening for a second, because now they were talking about underarms, and I sweat all over. My underarms are fine thanks to my regular usage of name brand deoderant/anti-persparent. Maybe I should slather the deoderant all over?

"Side effects include... [not really listening, surfing the net] ... heart attack."

Heart attack? Sweaty pits can give you a heart attack? No, that's not right. Fixing sweaty pits with Botox can give you a heart attack. That seems a little harsh for an arm pit sweat cure. Guess I'll be sticking to the deoderant.

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Fixing Broken Stuff

03.16.2006

So, today is the day I'm supposed to get my refrigerator repaired with a brand new compressor. Today is the day because the repairman only comes to Athens on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I picked Thursday morning because at the time I really wanted to go to Karate Tuesday morning, and since replacing the compressor is supposed to be a 3-hour job, there was no way he could get here in the morning and me make it to Karate. So with that, I was scheduled for "first thing Thursday morning".

Soon after making that appointment, along with readying myself for missing Karate, work scheduled a meeting for today. Thanks to everybody's schedule, the meeting isn't until 2:00. I was thinking "repairdude shows up around 9:00, gets finished around noon, gives me plenty of time to get downtown for the meeting, maybe even grab some lunch on the way." At 10:45 this morning, after noticing no repairdude has showed up, I called Bob Wallace Appliance to ask "yo, whattup?". I then hear that repairdude had a couple of quick fixes to make in Athens first, and that he should be on his way soon. So now at best he'll be here at 11:00, getting him finished at 2:00.

If he shows up.

While I was at it, I called to see what the status is on my long gone Hitachi TV. Turns out it needs a new optical engine, which had to be ordered since American Video didn't have one. It turns out whoever American Video ordered theirs from didn't have it either. So no I'm waiting on an optical engine.

What the hell's an optical engine? Does it have oil that I need to change? Do I need to rotate it? Is that why it went bad?

I hate getting things repaired.

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03.21 Update

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Josh the refrigerator repairdude showed up at 9:08 this morning. He told me that replacing the compressor is a 3-4 hour job, and that's if nothing goes wrong. He's got compressors, torches, toolboxes. I think he may be changing out a warp coil by the time this is over.

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03.21½ Update

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Taking right at 3½ hours, I now have a working refrigerator once again thanks to Josh the repairdude. The compressor is compressing. The refrigerant is refrigrating. Once he leaves I'll check and see if he installed a warp coil by turning the thermostat to warp 2!

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Gotta Get Up To Get Down

03.15.2006

I've been cleaning up around the house, kickin' it to some iTunes. I think Coolio is one of the better artists to clean to. Allow me to share some old school lyrics which are fun to rap along to while cleaning the kitchen!

Coolio
1,2,3,4 (Sumpin' New)

This is some of the lingua-fringa of da funk business,
And people come from miles around with an almost religious
devotion to get on down.....

-- Chorus --
1 2 3 4 get your woman on the floor
Gotta Gotta get up to get down
Gotta Gotta get up to get down
----------------

What up everybody, so glad you're here
it's Coolio wit' the flow back in your ear
this ain't the fantastic voyage, but I'm still on a mission,
to see if I can get your attention

Now I want to drop some information
just a little additive to your education
I live my life by the code of the funk
600 watt amps, 18's in the trunk

When I'm on the street, you gotta feel my beat, so
throw your hands up if you're down with the C
double O, L, I, O with the flow
I'm lookin' for the party, so betta nigga know

1 2 3, it's like A B C
if hip hop didn't pay, I'd rap for free
slide, slide, but that's that past
I got sumpin' brand new for that ass

[-- Chorus X 2--]

If you got beefed, then nigga eat a porkchop
once I get it goin', you know it don't stop
I break like antilocks, panties drop,
from hood to hood, block to block

Help, I need somebody
to get it goin' on in this party
baby you can do it, take your time do it right,
we can drink some liqua and do it all damn night

My name ain't Wanda, but I'll rock your world
get more bounce than a gherry curl
too many looky loos be lookin' for clues
there's a party goin' on, now whatcha gonna do, so

Grab your partner, do se do,
if you don't know who it is, it's Coolio,
slide, slide, but that's the past,
I got sumpin' brand new for that ass

[-- Chorus X 2--]

Push, push, in the bush
but don't step on no toes cuz you might get smushed
it's the brother from around the way
and what I say I been comin' on three like Dr. Dre

Comin' at 'em with pattern an' a fresh pair of atoms
I hope you don't trip cuz I don't want to have to gat 'em
so move your body baby, drive the homeys crazy,
the way you shake that ass, always amaze me

Ain't no party like a west coast party
cuz a west coast party don't stop
so when you see a young nigga
in a Chevy hittin' switches, then you gotta give the nigga his props

I got size in my rise and the motion for your ocean
Coolio got the potion to kick the party open
slide, slide, but that's the past
I got sumpin' brand new for that ass.

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