See that light?

Now that I think about it, I realized I should have been blogging my trek through unemployment. I was depressed. It would have been depressing to read. But, it may have been helpful to me. Oh well. New day. New blog entry.

I start a new job next tuesday and things are looking up.

First gay bar in ATL...

So far, I am pleased.

It's good to get out.

Live blues out at Jerry's and a pitcher of Amber Bock.

Who do you think their target audience was...?

I love this commercial.

Daily grumble

So, I start back to school next month. One of my first classes is algebra. I realized I probably would have been completely screwed if I hadn't had to assist my 8th grade daughter lately with her algebra.

Stuck in my head

For anyone who's ever heard the Carmina Burana, the iconic song "O Fortuna" will stay with you forever and you will constantly be noting when it is used in movies and commercials. We went and saw it performed by the Wichita Symphony Orchestra some years ago and our daughter, Marisa, still hums or sings the tune occasionally. A friend of our sent a link to a "literal" transcription of the song in the form of a flash movie.

Wait...what?

Someone apparently was watching EWTN when their meds wore off.

Holy crap!

Only 58 days left until Christmas! I better get moving!

That is methed up.

Did anyone else realize that Nyquil stopped making Nyquil-D?  The old fashioned formula?  They didn't want to mess with the behind-the-counter requirements that go along with the "D" which was pseudophedrine-HLC, the decongestant.  (Thanks meth-heads!)  Nyquil is now just about as effective as cough syrup.  Thankfully, the generic brand is still being produced. My bi-annual sinus explosions would suck without good old fashioned sudafed.

Icon...FTW!

Such a small stupid piece of jewelry for the blog.  Such a horrendous pain in the butt.

***UPDATE***

I also found a way to make it show up as the button if you bookmark it on an iPhone.

Stand by...

I'm doing a little restructuring and house-cleaning on the blog and all hell may very well break loose for a brief period.  You may have already noticed a few design updates like the profile badge and the date headers.

<headpalm>

This is the most brilliant thing I've seen this year.

Hiatus

Sorry for the dead-air time.  Some pressing matters called my attention elsewhere and didn't leave much room for the fluffy things in life.  Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...

Hallmark moment

Occasionally, I get these emotional high days and get kinda sappy. So, bear with me.

Fetzer Institute | Resources | Desmond Tutu: Youthful Idealism

Epiphany

With this new diet, the thought just occurred to me:

I will never get my money's-worth from a buffet again. 

Taking advantage of new tech

How can we use technology to reduce our bills and get better service?  In the course of household budgeting, that's a question that pops up.

I was looking at purchasing an LG 42LH50 and dropping AT&T's U-verse cable service and just getting cable content through our internet connection. But then I was worried about which appliances would be able to access which services.  Then I stumbled across Christina Warren's blog post. Now, I think we're still looking at dropping cable, but getting a Mac mini instead of the new TV.  A full functioning computer can be moved to a new TV down the road and can be updated at anytime regarding what files it can access and play. Plus, what we save on cable each month would pay for the the new equipment in 12 months.

Let me know what you think.  What's your home entertainment center / media setup?

Four letter word

So I was having trouble falling asleep as fast as Randy last night. So, I turned off the TV and was browsing through iPhone apps.  I came across Lose It!, a diet management program. I figured, "It's about time I do something."

I got my first shot to try it out today. One of the features allows me to create "recipes" for complex food items.  Since there is rarely a standard for items like coffee or salads, because everyone has their own preferences, you can add ingredients under a single label like "Shayne's Salad". It will keep track of the individual ingredients you added to that recipe and tally the nutritional values for the whole. All of these food items can be pulled from the searchable database.  So, I just had to say Romaine lettuce/3 cups, onions/2 tablespoons, sunflower seeds/1 tablespoon, etc. The database also includes a large amount of restaurant items.

Well, I made a "recipe" for my typical salad (1470 calories, 22g sodium, 100g fat!), and changed a few small things for today (448 calories, 19g sodium, 17.8g fat).  This left me with 1399 calories left in my budget for the day rather than 377.  Plus, I can log exercises and it will subtract the burned calories from my consumed calories, giving me more in my budget.

Stay tuned for future updates to see how it goes!

****UPDATE****


I found a website that offers similar services for all of my iphone-less brethren.  www.sparkpeople.com (fer free!)

ZOMG

Thanks to my twisted friend Mike, I've discovered The Ross Sisters. Get past the first minute and then marvel at the show.

Museum day

As I mentioned yesterday, today is the Smithsonian Magazine's National Museum Day.  The family and I picked up my cousin's kid and headed over to The Cow Town Museum.

I saw my friend Scott, who works there on Saturdays as a blacksmith and on Sundays as a tailor.

After grabbing some lunch, we then headed over to the Wichita/Sedgwick County Historical Museum.

To recap...

When I said yesterday that it had been too long, it had been about 5
months since my last martini. Beer, on the other hand, is another
matter.