Retrospecting

07.24.2007

Went to a funeral for my uncle this past weekend who died after a long bout with cancer. One of those times that makes you reflect and think about life and how you're living it.

I think my primary motto in life is Don't regret anything twice. A silly way of saying I should learn from my mistakes, but that's the way I am. After 38 years, I don't regret where I am now: geographically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, even physically. Granted, I could be doing better in all those areas in one way or another, but I'm fine with how things are right now.

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Vista Mom

07.18.2007

Over this past weekend I gallivanted off to Lebanon (Tennessee) to see Mom. Somehow, Mom ended up getting a new laptop from Office Max, a Toshiba with a whopping 160 gig hard drive that's running Windows Vista. As I have zero experience with Vista, along with needing to leave within an hour and a half of getting the laptop to make it back home at a reasonable hour, I left Mom to fight with setup and installation of whatever else she needed or wanted on her own.

I know, tough love.

I left Mom with a little advice - read through the instruction book once before ever turning the computer on. Then turn the computer on and start going through the steps and reading again. That way you'll know what to expect. Mom has a history of frustration with computers and operating systems, so I was hoping that this time, starting from scratch, she'd be able to learn and get comfortable with the new computer from the get go.

Monday I got home and heard a message on my answering machine. "Guess what? I got Vista running and I'm hooked up to the internet!"

With that, Mom surpasses me as far has having the latest in technology and operating systems. She's also set up her first computer without me. My Mom is now a computer genius.

No no. Computer super genius!

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Not Quite A kd lang Song

07.10.2007

There are times when dieting that you find yourself prone to cravings. The key, I think, is knowing that it's ok to occasionally give in to those cravings.

Last year when I started my successful South Beach Diet, I was cursed on Day 2 by wanting a Zero candy bar and a Coke. I didn't cave in and had neither, and after Day 2 I didn't have a craving for either. Especially odd in retrospect since I liked the Coke. Over time there are a couple of things that I would crave off and on, but most of the times those cravings would be gone after a day.

But sometimes the cravings wouldn't go away. Sometimes they stay for days on end, always in your head, constantly (Constant Cravings - kd lang reference!). I read that if you have cravings like this it's best to succumb and get them out of your system, otherwise you'll do more small-step cheating for a longer period. The key here is to not overdo it. Don't give in to a daily craving - wanting ice cream every day isn't going to work. My first big craving was wanting a pizza. I still remember that pizza that I gave in to - thin crust, chock full of meat and sun dried tomatoes. And onceI had that pizza I was good and crave-free for a while.

My latest round of dieting hasn't been as fruitful as the last, and to be honest I haven't been 100% hardcore with it like I used to be - more 85-90%. But for the past 4 days I've been craving a chili dog with onions. I don't even like chili dogs with onions, but my brain was convinced it sounded good. So after 4 days I stopped at Sonic on the way home and ordered myself the craved chili dog with onions. Then I went home, watched an old Buck Rogers episode with Jamie Lee Curtis in it, and ate the craved chili dog with onions.

To never have really liked a chili dog with onions, that one last night was pretty good.

Today I am not craving a chili dog with onions. Today I am not craving anything. It looks like the cravings are once again out of my system. Wonder what I'll crave next? And when? Now I crave answers!

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But What's Behind The Porn?

07.05.2007

I know, I know, it's a weird picture, but there's a reason for its weirdness. There's a local girl who has, shall we say, a slightly risque website. Her gimmick is that she's supposedly underage or just barely legal, when in reality she's 22 or 23, been married since she was 18 (to the guy taking the pictures) and is able to make a nice little living off the website. I look at the site every once in a while because (1) it's well designed, and (2) she's just one of those people you stare at, mainly to try and figure out what makes her look different.

The pictures available to the general public aren't too blatantly pornographic, a few are evenly erotically artistic. I tend to get caught up looking at things in the background. These pictures are obviously taken at home, and being somewhat of an internet stalker (reformed) I get a kick out of learning about people, even people I don't personally know.

Take this picture as an example. It shows some of the DVDs that are owned by the picture taker & takee. A couple of seasons of Family Guy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and (if you zoomed in a little) For Your Consideration are on the bottom shelf. The top shelf has The Prestige, Ballad of Ricky Bobby, X-Men 3, The Break Up, and (I think) The Guardian. Stalker with a DVD collection can pick out those covers! But let's return to the bottom shelf.

The first movie on the far left is Hard Candy. Having never heard of it, I looked it up:

A mature 14-year old girl meets a charming 32-year old photographer on the Internet. Suspecting that he is a pedophile, she goes to his home in an attempt to expose him.

Are you kidding me? This is one of those times you look up "irony" and get a picture of what you're looking at. It's these little easter eggs that keep me looking at things (that I probably shouldn't) on the interweb. If nothing else, I get a good chuckle out of it.

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$14

07.03.2007

Last weekend while doing my weekly laundry I neglected to empty my pants pockets following a date nite with Gina. As such, I ended up laundering money. Three $20 bills and 14 $1 bills. I noticed it in the washer, and something in me always finishes up wet money in the dryer. It makes the money crisp, almost fake feeling, but I do it anyway.

After a week of forgetting I had the money while it sat atop the dryer, I decided it was time to use it. I had day-to-day expenses. Might as well use some cash instead of charging everything.

Southern Family Home Markets (formerly Bruno's) was my first chance to get rid of some crispy money! I went for a small conglomeration of groceries - tea, whatever else I had in mind for dinner, some munchies for guests that might be coming by later. I stood in line and counted out my ones - yep, still had 14 of them. The clerk scanned my items and told me the total: $14.79. Damn, I neglected to bring change! I used on of the twenties, still stuck with the crunchy ones.

McAlisters was my next chance as I went to lunch yesterday. As I left the office, I remembered a $3 off coupon on my desk, but I still had these ones to get rid of, so I continued on without it. I eat at McAlisters once per week at least (sometimes twice - as I did last week, sometimes more). My standard lunch costs just over $8. That would get rid of over half my ones! I enetered and went up to order, today from one of the managers who was manning a register. He took my order and I got out my money and heard something I wasn't expecting. "Nyah, it's on me today. You eat here enough you deserve a free lunch." But I've got money. I've even got coupons I can print out for almost free food at home. But it was an act of kindness, so I accepted his free lunch. Still had all of those ones afterward.

Target (always Target, I think) after lunch yesterday was my last chance to get rid of some ones. I didn't really have anything I needed to go after, I just stopped by the store on the way back to work. They had 12 packs of Coke on sale, so I picked up a few, followed by some toys for the guys at work. When I checked out, it was a little over $30 I didn't bring any of the twenties with me today. Dejectedly I pulled out my credit card and made my purchase and continued on my way.

Still got that $14 today. Don't have any purchasing trips planned in the foreseeable future, though.

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