| My Hectic Life. :) |
[22 Feb 2005|04:38pm] |
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So much has happened in the past couple of weeks, I've been literally bogged down with stuff from every aspect of my life. :) I have no clue where to even begin.
The New Year started off well...my resolution to try to shed a few pounds has gone the way of the crapper, but the difference between this and every other time is that I'm actually attempting to get it back on track instead of just say to hell with it. :)
I just footed a bill for a $500 car repair. It seems the CVC boot joint or something-or-another was completely destroyed and, as a result, needed the entire front axle replaced. Fun. Fortuantely, this is the first time Brian and I have ever been financially able to cover a hefty car repair without needing to first save up for several months, or put off some bills. It's a good feeling. :) And, an even better feeling to be able to fix it immediately. :)
I got a bit behind with my school work last week and am playing catch up this week for it. Fun, I'm trying to do my normal school work, plus what I got behind last week. I seem to be making decent headway, but man am I tired at the end of each night. Not to mention these headaches I've seemed to have picked up sometime last week. I started getting one today, but took 2 Tylenol and that fixed that. :)
The real funny event that's causing me to post is what a friend of mine said to me today. She makes the 4th person to ask me (whether jokingly or seriously..). I walked into the room, she looked at me and said "Something's different about you." I said "Oh?" And she said "Yeah, it's in your face. I can't quite put my finger on it..." I figured "Whatever, no biggie". A few seconds later, she said "Oh my God, are you pregnant?"
....
( Rest of the post contains details that not everyone may want to know. Click here if you're nosey enough to continue. :) )
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| An Update... |
[21 Feb 2005|09:12am] |
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I'm still alive! I promise! Better update to come later in the day. :)
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| Weight-Loss Update |
[13 Jan 2005|05:27pm] |
Well, it's been 2 weeks since I vowed to start eating healthy, and begin by ridding my diet of fast food, pop and emotional eating.
Other than allowing myself a couple of "off meals" (friend's birthday, a nice night out with hubby) I've been keeping a pretty good eye on my meals and so far have stuck with it. I've discovered just how yummy Subway is! :) My normal diet lately consists of one of Subway's 6" subs (usually from the 6g of fat or less) with just the meat, bread, mustard and all the veggies I can stomach. :) I usually opt for the combo, choosing a Diet Pepsi (over regular pop) and a bag of my choice of Baked chips (which I've discovered I like even more than regular chips.)
My dinners are harder to monitor since we eat out a lot, but I just make sure to only eat enough to keep me from getting full again.
Snacks are quite easy. I have a weakness for popcorn - and I've discovered Orville Redenbacher's SmartPop - which is 94% fat free. For the entire bag, there's 220 calories & 2g of fat. I usually treat allow myself a single bag of popcorn, as a treat, a day. :)
I don't own a scale, so I'm not sure if I've lost any weight. I've not really been exercising, so if any has come off, it's probably been minimal, but there is a drastic difference in my calorie and fat intake. With my hectic schedule, all I can afford to do is adjust my eating habits and hope that'll do until I have the time and means to work out again. :)
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| New iPod Shuffle |
[12 Jan 2005|10:01am] |
Ok, so I'm looking at the new page for the iPod Shuffle on Apple's web-page. Nice - an inexpensive, flash based, iPod model. :)
Anyway, take a look at the add page, and scroll down to the bottom, read the grey fine print. http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/. The second item says: "Do not eat iPod shuffle."
Now, you know that's there for a reason. What dummy tried to eat an iPod??
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| A Weight-Loss Update |
[07 Jan 2005|09:01am] |
Well, it's been about a week since I started eating healthier and I'm feeling GREAT! It's such an awesome feeling, I can't begin to explain it. :) Before I made the change, I would constantly feel "icky" - I can't really describe it any other way. And, of course, any other diets I've tried in the past, when I was faced with a choice, I did so feeling miserable and wanting the bad stuff, and despising the good. So, you might be asking what's different about this time around. Well, lucky for you, I'm gonna tell ya! :P
My approach is completely different.
Sunday (some of you may remember my post...) I went to dinner with my husband, Brian. We both decided to go for Mexican, and even though I made the choice for the ultra healthy salad (lettuce, tomatoes, green pepper, grilled chicken breast, salsa in leiu of dressing), It was an extremely tough decision. Not because I really wanted the Tacos, but more because I looked at the decision as being a choice I was forced to make, instead of one I wanted to make.
The next day, I talked with my friend Jen for a few hours about my New Years resolutions and how I really wanted to make 2005 my year of success. She's got an idea of where I'm coming from since her starting weight is around mine and she's already lost quite a bit of weight, and more importantly, she's kept it off. Jen & I started talking about "choices" and after much surfing on the web and looking up nutritional info for all of my regular joints and items, I realized just how bad I was eating! My calorie and fat allowance for a single day would sometimes be exceeded by one meal, and most often times, my choices would often result over a thousand calories, and more than 50 grams of fat in just a single meal. Saying I had a rude awakening is putting it mildly.
From that point on I've replaced Fast Food with healthier choices. For instance, instead of a Big Mac or Whopper combo, I opt for a Subway combo. I've also replaced Diet Pop and Water for Regular and I've even started attempting to tackle emotional eating, and snacking when I'm bored. And I'm proud to say I think I'm doing very well. Since Sunday, I've had 1 small Coke, A "bad for you" dinner (Cheeseburger & Onion Rings), and a small snack of regular BBQ potato chips one night (vs. my old habit of snacking nightly). Looking at it in writing, this looks like a lot, unless you know how I used to eat, and see the amount of healthy decisions I've made. Each lunch has consisted of one of Subway's "Under 6 Grams of Fat" subs - with no cheese or Mayo. (Another great tip from Jen, if you can't taste it, don't get it. And I can never taste the cheese anyway!) I've been drinking water or Diet Pop consistently, and my snacking - when I must have something has been replaced with Orvilee Redenbacher's Smart Pop (2 WW pts!!), Vegetables or Low Fat Animal Crackers as a treat.
I know it's too soon to see drastic results, but I swear I could see a physical difference around my rib cage in the mirror this morning. Unfortunately I don't own a scale, so I can't tell if my weight has changed any...and the only measurements I had from before are logged at the Slender Lady I was visiting, which has now closed.
I know tomorrow night is going to be a bad night for me since we're going to The Melting Pot for Jen's 21st birthday. It's a fondue restaurant - everything is served with dipping sauce, from cheese to chocolate. I plan to not eat a lot out tomorrow night, and make healthier than normal choices the whole weekend to help counter-balance the negative tomorrow night. :) Wish me luck! Let's hope my determination sticks with me throughout 2005!!
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| The Emotional Rollercoaster of Weight-Loss |
[03 Jan 2005|08:54am] |
Choosing to diet, and forcing yourself to stick to it is one of the toughest things a person can do. At least, I believe it's one of the toughest things I can do. Over the years, I've come to the realization that I do have an addiction. It's food. Some people are addicted to gambling, alcohol, or drugs and I'm addicted to food. Regardless of whether society views this addiction as "real" or not, I'm here to tell you that it's just as hard to kick as any of the others I just listed. For me, food is more than just "food". It's a wonder of smells, textures and taste. And I'm addicted to every bite of it. As a result, it's extremely hard to "kick the bucket" as they say. It's even become an emotional outlet for me. Food, for the better part of 12 years, has been there to comfort, encourage or congratulate me. In a sense, food has been my best friend. And now, I'm forced with a decision. In order to meet a goal, I must end that relationship.
Last night, I experienced just how hard this is going to be. Brian (my husband) and I went to a little Mexican place for dinner that he's been dying to go to for weeks. (Now, before you cast stones at him, please know that he asked me if I wanted to go and I agreed. He also had no clue how seriously I am taking (or attempting to take) my weight-loss.) When I agreed to Mexican for dinner, I hadn't realized what lied in store. I figured "No big deal, I'll get a salad." Yeah right, you try ordering a plain-jane salad when you adore Beef tacos smothered in cheese and sour cream. It's not an easy task!
We arrived at the small restaurant and placed our order. When the waitress looked in my direction, I mustered up all the strength I had and blurted: "I'll have the Fiesta Salad with no Avacado, Onion, Cheese or dressing." The waitress confirmed she had the order right by repeating: "So, you just want Lettuce, Green Pepper, Tomato and Grilled Chicken Breast? Anything to drink" I confirmed the order was correct and went a step further by ordering water instead of pop.
I sighed a breath of relief figuring the worst was over. I did it. I ordered and there was no turning back now! Then the dinners came. I looked across the table to Brian's plate (he had the beef tacos) and then to mine and I could feel the heat of tears begging to freely flow down my cheek. I swallowed them back and calmly ate my food. Shortly after, we left.
After dinner, we had some errands to run. And, amazingly enough, once my mind was occupied by something else, the feelings I had at dinner disappeared, almost completely. Looking back on it now, I feel a bit better after last night. I know now that I *can* go out to eat and choose healthier and smarter choices. But, this is going to be a long journey, and there will be tough nights, possibly even worse than last night. So, as a result I'll be taking this journey one meal at a time.
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| My New Year's Resolution |
[31 Dec 2004|04:56pm] |
Over the past month or so, I've found myself at a stand-still on the road to my ultimate goal weight. And the sad thing is, no matter how much I want to get back on it, I just don't know how. With my current schedule (Work 45+ hours a week, school 4 nights a week and helping to support extended family members) it's tough, and, quite frankly, I need help. :( I'm determined to be in a different position on December 31, 2005. I want to post not of my failures from 2005, but instead of my success!
I started my journey this year in August by eating a bit better, and joining up with Slender Lady. I spent 3 nights at SL doing a 45 minute full-body workout and was starting to feel rather good about myself. The pounds weren't dropping as I'd hoped, but one or two here or there was better than none at all. Then the holidays hit and with the lack of time I have, I found myself slipping, slowly, back into my old habits.
And now I sit here at 5:00pm on New Years Eve looking no different than I did in August of this year. :( A whole year went by and nothing about my size has changed. The saddest part of all of this is if I could have pushed myself more (and not slipped up over the holidays) maybe I would have lost a small amount of weight that I could feel proud about.
This year, for 2005, I'm determined. I'm tired of sitting around on New Year's Eve thinking to myself "If I would have just kept with it in August..." or "If I would have done something this year...". No, this year *will* be different. I want to look at pictures of myself and not be disgusted. I want to walk into a store and not worry that people are gawking at me. I want to feel better about myself. And, most importantly, I want to be in better shape and less worried about healh issues related to being overweight.
While this LJ is good for encouragement, sometimes it's good to have someone that you can just talk to to help keep you on track. Someone who's fighting (or has fought) the battle that you're facing and knows where you're coming from. It's a tough road, and as I've proven, one that I can't easily go down myself. If anyone out there would like to be "weight loss buddies" - please feel free to add me to your Buddy List. :) My screen name is chewbecca95 on both Yahoo and AIM. If you prefer MSN, that's fine too - my screen name there is rslickis@hotmail.com. :) Hopefully together we can meet our goals, and even become friends. :)
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| Mother-In-Law & my iPod |
[29 Dec 2004|02:32pm] |
Christmas Eve, I was at my in-laws and my mother-in-law started looking at my iPod and asking questions. I showed her how it works and she saw I had a Bill Cosby CD stored on it, and asked to listen to it. I snapped a quick pic of it, because, quite frankly - I thought it was funny. To fully appreciate the photo, you have to understand that my mother-in-law is extremely IT challenged. The woman goes out of her way to do things the "old" way instead of embracing technology. To see her using an iPod made me giggle. :)
http://www.chewbecca.net/pictures/Holidays/Christmas04/Picture7.jpg
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| iTunes Digital Library, What are *your* thoughts? |
[25 Dec 2004|07:35pm] |
Calling all veteran iPod users! I'm at a crossroads regarding my current method of collecting music and I'm unsure which way I want to go. So, I thought I'd get advice from people here. :)
My previous method of collecting music was to buy the acutal CD and use that as a backup. Encode it at either 192 or 256 for my iPod and listen to that. If the CD was needed (for say a road trip, or my husband wanted to listen to it at work), we made a copy of it - that way if it got lost, it was not a big deal and we still had the original here. (He prefers CDs over digital for various reasons).
But, after speaking to my husband's step-cousin (follow that one, lol) who happens to be in the music business, he said he only purchases his music from iTunes. And, even though he works in a studio, he said the quality of the songs was still really good. Not being entirely sold, I had to try it for myself. So, I did. And I'm stunned. I purposefully downloaded HipHop and Rap since that usually tends to have a lot of bottom end, and most lower encoded songs that I've heard seem to have that portion missing. The songs I grabbed actually didn't sound half bad.
Now I'm torn about how I should handle my music library. Should I continue to purchase CDs and rip the songs myself? This will ensure that I will always have a copy of the CD that I can use as a backup. Or, should I switch to strictly digital purchases? I'm not totally opposed to this idea, but I'd like anyone's advice I can get before I just jump right in. I've looked up the usage rights on iTunes, and it says that you can use it on 5 different PCs (though my iTunes account only allows 3??), unlimited iPods, and you can have unlimited transfers to a CD.
Those of you that have been "iPodding" for a while, if you could take a couple of minutes to answer these questions, I'd greatly appreciate it!
1) I know the songs I downloaded sound ok, but are there any types of genres that you feel the songs from iTunes are "missing" something - normally the bottom end?
2) How do you keep your archive? Do you purchase strictly from iTunes, or do you keep CDs?
3) What counts as a "new computer"? Meaning - if I reformat a computer that was already used to download music, is iTunes going to count the same computer, freshly formatted, as a new system?
4) Anything extra that you'd like to share would be appreciated. :)
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| Cheap iPod Screen Protection! |
[17 Dec 2004|03:25pm] |
If you're anything like I am, you're probably extremely protective of your iPod and its ultra-cool and hip look. Unfortunately, from previous models I've owned, I know just how easily these small devices show signs of wear. So, when I bought my iPod, I slipped it - immediately - into a new iSkin. The only problem is I've not really been able to find a good case that either A) is under $50 or B) does not come mixed in with a bunch of other accessories that I don't want. When I say good case - I mean something that will protect the iPod and screen from scratches and everyday wear and tear.
A couple of weeks ago, I was shopping around when I came to the realization that unless I bought online, I wouldn't find anything in any of my local stores. Wanting something ASAP, I began to ponder the possibility of using PDA Screen Protectors.
I found a pack of Fellowes' WriteRight Micro-Thin Screen Protectors (this pack was modeled for the Samsung 1300 PDA) on clearance for $5.00, paid for them and left. I immediately applied one to the screen of my iPod. I was half expecting the sheet to not stick even half as well as the material that's placed on electronic screens when they're packaged...however, I found that it was quite adhesive, but not with a "glue feel".
After I put it on, I began to wonder if it would peel off easily, damage the surface of my iPod or leave a sticky residue. I left it on for a few weeks and just today removed the sheet to replace it since the one I put on it last had a few air bubbles trapped in it.
What I found was amazing - it peeled off *very* easily, and left no scratches or damage to the device, nor did it leave a sticky residue. I'm quite impressed. I put a new one on my screen and a couple more on the back of the iPod itself and then placed it back in the iSkin for added protection.
If anyone's looking for something to protect their screen without buying a new case that covers the screen - check out Fellowes' products. Find a model that will fit your screen decently and since each pack comes with a dozen sheets, you'll easily have enough to cover your iPod (or just the screen) a few times over.
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| 4th Gen, 20GB for $429?!?!? |
[14 Dec 2004|07:45am] |
So, quick post regarding an Ad I just heard on the radio for the 4th Gen iPod. This seems like the perfect place to post it. :)
Daughter: "I was thinking about getting dad an MP3 player for Christmas."
Mom: "Don't do that. Get him a ceramic gift certificate so he can make his own coffee mug. He loves coffee."
Daughter: "You're sure? Don't get him the MP3 player, get him the coffee mug? Ok..."
Announcer: "Get the gift they'll love this holiday, like the new 20GB iPod from Apple, now at the Future Store for only $429!"
I was like, uhhh....everywhere else, including Apple, sells those for $399. Wonder why the price is jacked up an extra $30. *scratch head*
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| A Weekend in Columbus. |
[13 Dec 2004|09:56am] |
"What's wrong?" That seems to be the general question asked of me since last night. Quite honestly, I can't tell you that there's something "wrong", because I don't really think it's any one thing. I think, mostly, that it's a combination of stress from the end of the semester, frustration and a bit of jealousness. Let me explain - the best I can without pointing fingers. Hopefully by typing this out, I'll be able to pinpoint exactly what's bothering me so I can get over it and move on. As it is right now, I'm just getting more pissy by the hour and it's causing nothing by tension and anger at home. That's the complete opposite of what I want.
Friday night, Brian and I met his parents for Chinese. Halfway through my usual Cashew Chicken, I made a trip to the Ladies' room and shortly after decided the best course for me would be to duck out of dinner early and head home. Dinner, apparently, hadn't set too well. I knew it was only a matter of time before I started blowing chunks, but that once I did, I'd feel alot better. Until then, I was looking for anything that would soothe my stomach, namely Malox. I asked Brian repeatedly to go to the store for some. The first time, he fell asleep - he had had a long day, so I didn't want to wake him. The second time, I fell asleep and he forgot. The third time - about 6 hours later, he finally went. :P God bless him - 1am, in the cold, and he goes to CVS for some Gatorade and Malox for yours truly. :)
The next day we were supposed to leave around noon to head out for Columbus to see Alison. Alison is an online friend of Brian's who he's grown quite close to. She's from the area, but goes to school in Columbus, so we thought a road trip to see her over the weekend would be cool. Despite feeling icky and just like crap in general, we went. In the end, it was a decision that was left up to me, but I didn't want to be the reason Brian couldn't make it to Columbus, so I agreed to go. Also, I was looking forward to a weekend away from home - and the suite we got had a jacuzzi. :P What better way to deal with the stomach flu than with a jacuzzi? :P
We finally get in, and she shows up. We go to dinner, and after just a single piece of bread and two bites of my steak, I'm not feeling so great again. We pack up from dinner and head back to our hotel where I opted for some alone time in the Jacuzzi instead of chatting it up with Brian and Alison. This gave Brian, who's normally shy, time to hang with Alison alone...and me time to ponder why a jacuzzi tub is an absolute must-have in our future house. :P
The only time I really felt akward was the night we left, I hugged Alison and told her to look us up when she was in for the Holidays. I walked over to the car, and as I was standing outside, I watched while the two of the hugged. That's where everything just went downhill. It was an extremely akward situation for me. I'm not used to being the third wheel when it comes to anything to do with Brian. And, in that moment, I was the third wheel. Now, don't read that the wrong way - I'm not saying that the hug was anything other than a platonic, friendly hug between a couple of close pals - because it really wasn't. All I'm saying is I think I felt jealous because when I saw them hug, it just drove home the fac that, despite how much they included me this weekend, they still have a bond that I don't really share a part of.
In fact, Kudos needs to go to Brian and Alison both. I was terribly afraid that the entire weekend I'd either be left out, or feel like a complete third wheel - and actually, I didn't. I was included in everything they did, and felt right at home. And it wasn't an akward "include" either. You know the one I'm talking about - the one where you're bringing someone along because you have no choice. I really felt like both Brian and Alison wanted me to be there. Made my weekend worthwhile. :)
Of course, I had to go and ruin it though. I had to let a little hug between a couple of good friends bother me. Of course, at the time, I don't think I realized that was what the problem was. All I know is the more I tried figuring it out, the more resentful I got (which is stupid because at the time, I had no idea what I was being resentful over). And as a result, the more resentful I get, the more pissed and annoyed Brian got at me. And all this without anyone having any clue what's going on.
Basically what it boiled down to was this: I'm not used to being the third-wheel when it comes to relationships with Brian. When I saw him hug Alison, I realized that they have something that I don't take part in, and don't really know that much about. It hurt a bit to come to that realization. I'm used to being (or at least thinking I am...) the person Brian goes to for everything, and when I realized that he had a close bond with someone else, someone that I barely know, I was sent reeling backwards into a whole arena I've never experienced. I didn't know how to handle it, I felt small pangs of jealousy, but mostly curiousity over what the two of them had that made them such good friends. I realized that in the several years the two of them have known each other, the door to that relationship had been closed to me until recently. And, bottom line is it hurt.
Of course, not being able to properly express that one problem led to an evening and morning full of tension. My stomping around the house bitching about things that really didn't matter, him getting more annoyed with me by the second. It doesn't make for a good way to start your week off. :( Adding insult to injury, I sit here now realizing that regardless of how many hugs Brian could ever give any of his friends, he's given his heart to me. That should make me feel all warm and gooey inside, instead it makes me cry and feel like a complete ass. The one thing that he's wanted so badly for so long, he finally gets and I ruin his perfect weekend by getting jealous becuase he hugs his good friend good-bye. Where does that rank me on the shallowness poll?
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| A Real Update. |
[06 Dec 2004|08:52am] |
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An update. Let's see.
Thanksgiving was a blast - we spent it with my sister, her daughter, my mom and step-dad in Virginia and Brian actually went with us. Hannah's growing up so fast, and she's so darned cute. She was coming down with something while we were in (which she was ever so kind to share with me...). She's learning to count past 20, and I love hearing her count because her southern accent is so obvious and it's so adorable. *Mimicks Hannah counting... One...Two...Three...Four...Five...* The ride home was not so enjoyable, 10 hours on the road and no problems. We get within 5 minutes of home, 2 of the 3 of us in the car have to pee extremely bad and Brian got pulled over. Grr!
The next day I started coming down with the same symptoms Hannah had, and a week later, I still have most of the symptoms, but at least they're tolerable now. I actually missed 3 days of work last week because I was sick. :( I'm thankful to be back into my normal routine. I've missed out on the gym for 2 weeks now and I really could use some working out to help get me back into the swing of things.
Brian and I splurged on ourselves and bought a digital camera - which has been shipped and we should have in our grubby little hands any day now. :) It's actually a good thing too, we're not sure how much longer his grandma will be with us. She's been getting steadily worse, to the point where his parents actually moved her from a Retirement Community/Semi-Assisted Living center to a Nursing Home. :( We visited her last night, and while she can't get in/out of bed by herself anymore, and even with help the help of two people, more or less lifting her and putting her into her wheelchair, it still takes her several minutes. I hope to be visit her in the Nursing Home quite often. I really want to be able to visit with her as much as I can in case something does happen. Besides, she's in a new setting and Change is always hard. Especially for her. She can't communicate properly and has a set routine that they don't like to adjust. I'm sure regular visits from family would help to cheer her up.
We (Bri, me, his mom & dad) were up there visiting her last night after dinner and we did a quick tour of the place with her. It was sad, other than being paralyzed and not able to do anything physically, and not being abel to speak/write (because of the stroke 20 some years ago), she's still in better condition than quite a few of the folks there. Most of the people that were at the Nursing Home seemed to be unable to take care of themselves because of both physical and mental conditions. :( A couple of elder ladies actually stopped me while I was walking with Grandma and tried asking me something. I have no clue what they were saying, and all I could think was how bad they looked. :(
It occurs to me now that quite a few of the patients in the Nursing Home grandma's at are most likely on Medicaid - and I'm sure their family / friends don't visit often. I'm not going to be one of those family members. Before my grandma passed away, she needed someone to stay with her in Florida - 1,000 miles from my home in Detroit - to help prepare her for a move to Michigan where we could better care for her. She was physically unable to care for herself, and long story made short, I was elected to go. Just out of High School with nothing else on my plate, I packed my bags, put my life on hold and went to grandma's house. It was the best thing I ever did and if given the chance to repeat it, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Bri's grandma means just as much to me. I love her dearly and have a lot of respect for the woman. The bond that I had with my grandma isn't there (honestly, no one would be able to replace that bond) but I'm determined to spend as much time as I can with her. I do not want to sit her years from now with regrets and thoughts of what I should have done.
Anyway, I'm back at work today and it's painful. I only got a few hours of sleep last night thanks to Acid Reflux. I really have to start eating smaller portions again. My stomach cannot handle overeating, and I'm actually to the point now that when I do overeat, I get gas really bad, my heart beats harder if I lay down because of the gas, and quite often bits of food and acid make their way back up with the burps. It's disgusting. I assume this is all Acid-Refulx related, but I really don't know. Either way, if I quit over-eating, I'll lose weight and my problems will be solved. :) I just have to muster up enough will power to say "No thanks, I'm full." instead of "It was really good, I'll take some more!".
Anyway, I should get back to work. :)
P.S. - I love Ali! I've been talking more to Alison - Bri's best friend - lately and I can totally see why she's his best friend. She fricking rocks. :) Hopefully we'll be able to make it into visit with her this weekend. (She's away at college about 3 hours south of us, and we're hoping to be able to drive down and spend Saturday with her.)
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| New iPod |
[22 Nov 2004|09:49am] |
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Yay for Apple iPods! I was debating last week about buying another iPod (I've owned them before and love 'em.) but couldn't bring myself to spend the amount of money I wanted to on a 20GB 4th Gen. So, Brian - gotta love him - did it for me before I had a chance to.
I'm now the proud owner of a 20GB 4th generation iPod with a pretty blue iSkin case! :) Yay!
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| Non-Fish People and their Aquariums |
[22 Nov 2004|09:11am] |
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This post originally started out to be an entry about a used tank (with fish) that Brian and I obtained over the weekend...but after proof reading it a bit, I realized what's really on my mind. It's more a post about the poor Jack Dempsey (RIP) that came with the tank and the people who had it before us.
The tank in question is a simple 55-Gallon tank that the family has had for several years. Housed in this tank were a fully-grown (and quite beautiful) Blue Acara, a fully-grown and very mangled Jack Dempsey, 2 "Common" Plecos (the markings on both Plecos lead me to believe they're not common, but I've yet to correctly identify them.), an eel and a Black Skirt Tetra.
Now, before I go any further - those of you who are engrossed in the fish keeping hobby should see the first problem here. The Tetra. Apparently, according to the family the owned the tank, the Tetra has been peacefully co-existing in the tank for 5-6 years. (Personally, I didn't think they lived that long...) I was pretty sure he wouldn't make it in the South American tank, but figured if he got along with the fish in the other tank, then maybe he'd survive after the move. A few hours after the fish were placed in the tank, the Tetra went to fishy heaven. I should have known better and found another place for him, but quite frankly, I didn't have any place to put a single tetra, and being after 5pm on a Sunday, I couldn't find any place to take him even if I wanted to. :(
The next thing that really bothered me was the family that had this tank apparently never cleaned it - inside or out! The calcium buildup on the outside of the tank isn't pretty to look at, but at least it doesn't mess with the fish's environment. However, the 3" of fish crud on the gravel *does* mess with the fish's environment. Apparently the people that had the fish before we did didn't believe in a good gravel vac. They simply dumped water into the tank as it evaporated, without even dechlorinating or conditioning it!! (GAH!)
And then there's the equipment for the tank. Oh. My. God. They actually had a decent filter - the biggest BioWheel available. But, here's the kicker. It wasn't doing *anything* beneficial to the tank (I'm sure) since the media hasn't EVER been changed. The slapped the filter on a couple years ago and said "Look, we have a filter." :( In the stand of the tank there was a few boxes worth of equipment, including several heaters, multiple good quality air pumps and even a smaller 5-Gallon tank, complete with light and hood. Not bad, honestly. Too bad they weren't using an air pump (even though it wasn't really needed) or a single heater anywhere on the tank! Half the crap, we'll most likely never use, but we can salvage a few good parts to keep with our hospital tanks, and even maybe de-crud-ify the 5-Gallon and use it as a cute Betta home. :) Honestly, we got our moneys worth in parts alone, especially since Cichlid World has agreed to take in our "junk findings" for store credit. (Yay!)
Finally, there's the condition of the fish. While the Acara seems to be in a great bill of health, and the Plecos - while not of the common variety - are doing well and eating up every ounce of algea in their holding tank, the Dempsey didn't look so good. According to the guy who moved the tank (who knows his stuff regarding fish) and Eric at Cichlid World (who knows even more than the tank-dude does) - chances are the fish had a broken spine and there was no recovering from it. What they both speculate may have happened is the Dempsey became the beating post for the Acara - and could have, as a result, became a protector for the Tetra. (What a combination, huh?) Really, it's rather sad. The only other fish the Acara had to pick on in the entire tank was the Dempsey - so basically the Dempsey just got his ass kicked one too many times. People - this is a prime reason why overcrowding an agressive tank is a must!
Sadly, the Dempsey didn't make it. He was seriously mangled. :( Brian had the nerve to quickly end the poor guy's miserable live...and I was very close to tears from the whole ordeal. I personally didn't have the guts to do it, and I was really upset that someone could let a pet's health get so bad there was no hopes of recovery. If a dog or a cat becomes neglected or has broken bones, we as a society question the pet owners, and in some cases even press charges against the offenders. In the case of fish - people just shrug it off and don't care. It's not as big of a deal for some reason. :( Maybe because with fish you can't hold them, cuddle with them or interact with them the same way you can with a dog or a cat, but let me tell you - that doesn't keep me from getting attached. :( I'd be more torn up if my cat passed on, than a fish, but still - when a fish dies because someone was neglectful, it's hard to swallow. :(
In brighter news, while the Tetra has not made it, and the Dempsey has moved onto the pain-free, peaceful aquarium in the sky, the Acara and two plecos are doing GREAT. We're planning to add the rest of our South American cichlids to the 55-Gallon tonight - after a good vacuuming and some heavy-duty rearranging. We bought a new filter for our 75-African setup and decided to trade the used the BioWheel in for a credit and move one of the AquaClear 500s to the 55Gallon. That works out well since the filter is from a cycled tank - the 55 gallon is effectively cycled without much effort on our part. :)
I'll keep everyone posted about the Acara's condition. He's a bit shy at the moment, but wouldn't you be if you'd just been moved around and lost the only tank buddies you had? :(
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[15 Nov 2004|04:42pm] |
My account type doesn't allow me to do polls, so we'll have to do this the hardway. Ok, here it is: I'm buying a mini iPod to replace the 2nd Gen one I had, and sold, a year ago. Why did I sell it? Mostly because there are features on the 3rd gen and minis that I like, and thought it worth the upgrade.
So. That having been said - I'm pretty sure I want to go with a mini - for the same price as a 20GB, I can get a mini (4GB) plus an iTrip, which is more valuable to me than extra storage. Plus the mini is lighter and smaller and cuter. :) So, now I just need to decide which color. HELP ME!
I have my choice of:
--> Gold
--> Silver
--> Pink
--> Blue
--> Green
View the Mini iPods Here!
I'm leaning towards Blue or Green, but interested to know what y'all think.
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[13 Oct 2004|08:59pm] |
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I had a whole long rant posted on October 11, it was up for all the world to see, and now it's gone. :( I'll get around to re-typing it.
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| Ever have one of those days? |
[22 Sep 2004|08:48pm] |
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Ever have one of those days where you just want to scream, go to bed and pretend it never happened. I haven't had them very often, but today was just awful. And the sad thing is, if I'd just focus on the good points of the day, I'd probably be ok, but my day started off bad and just kept going downhill and my mindset, I'm sure, didn't help things either.
I woke up a few minutes late for work, rushed out the door and got to work (fortuantely) only 5 minutes behind schedule. Got logged in and started dealing with the backlog of requests I had from taking the day off on Monday. As I'm in the middle of my morning stuff, one of my coworkers comes over and plops a few requests in my lap, which really didn't make my day. Not that I mind doing the work, but more that I just don't like how I ended up doing it. Things are decided without letting me know what's going on...and I'm kind of stuck in the middle going "Duhh...".
So, anyway, I tell her I can get it fixed and I'll have it for her ASAP, and then I start getting hounded by everyone who uses this application to have it done ASAP because *gasp* they need to work in it. If people would have left me alone, I could have had the fixes done in half the time. But nooo...
And then it got worse. I decided since Brian and I both agreed I need a phone, I was going to search E-bay for possible phones and grab just a cheap one that would last me till my contract is up with sprint in a year or so, when I plan to switch to Verizon. I call him on his cell phone (habit) and he answers the phone. I said "Hey, how much can I spend on a phone?" He got snotty with me, snapped back that he was in a meeting and couldn't tell me off the top of his head. All I really needed was an "Uhm, dunno, busy - can I call you back?"
And it continued to get worse. Lunch rolls around, but I'm on the phone and on hold. My work provided us with lunch today, so I was really looking forward to that. I got off the phone and headed into the lunch room to grab a bite to eat and *gasp* most EVERYTHING was gone. :( Guess that does me well though, because quite frankly, I need to lose more weight anyway. I grabbed a few bites of the stuff that was left (and by this time, since it was sitting by a huge open door cold...) and wolf it down. Head back to my desk and now I've got a message from Alicia.
It seems her van has broken down and she needs a ride to an interview she has(had) tonight, a ride to school tomorrow, and a ride to another interview on Friday. And, she's hinting that she wants ME to take car of making arrangements for her rides and getting dad to take a look at the car. I'm swamped with work still and just don't have time to take care of it, so I tell her that, more or less, she's a grown woman, she can take care of it herself. That escalates into an argument.
Finally get her off my back and re-focus on the phone situation. I'm getting frustrated at this point, because I can't find one cheap...finally got a number from Brian. He said around $50 would be ok. So, I start shopping. I find 3, yes 3, in a row that would do and are free & clear with Sprint to be activated under a new line. And each one of those, I ended up in a bid-war with someone else, and I lost each one. :( By now, i'm pissed and don't want to wait days to re-do looking for another phone. I just want it over with. And I don't even care what I end up with. Found one, not exactly what I want, but not bad. Snagged it up as "Buy it Now" and went on about my way.
Then it's time to leave work. Left...came home real quick with the intention of going to the gym. Instead, I got to do errands with Brian (yay) and come home and realize that my flash drive with my latest programs for my classes is just missing. It's gone. Kaput. I'm really afraid i left it at school. :( If I did, I might as well kiss it good bye. :(
Alright, I'm done. I'm going to try to eat the dinner brian cooked for me.
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| Lawrence Tech University vs. Wayne State University |
[21 Sep 2004|08:18am] |
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Brian's finished with his associate degree from Henry Ford Community College and I'm pretty close to being done, so we've both been scoping out transfer universities. Yesterday, we visited Wayne State University and Lawrence Tech University. Here's what we found out:
First we went to Wayne State. We were both initially open to attending the school, and even the massive size of the campus didn't intimidate us (well, it did me a bit!). I called ahead of time and explained what questions I had and who I would speak with to have them answered, they told me an Admissions counselor and no appointment was necessary. So, we got there, and signed in to see the counselor. The lady we spoke with was extremely polite and very helpful. (Sylvia Stancil, if you are headed down there, I recommend speaking with her.) She answered as many of our questions as she could and then passed us along to the next person.
The next person was actually a rep for the Computer College at Wayne State. She spoke to us regarding the CIS program, and basically it's nothing that either Brian or myself are looking for. It's a math-intensive degree (which means you have to go through Calc II), you have to take a foreign language, you have to take lots of general education classes (more than you'd have to take at U of M - Dearborn or LTU) and they don't focus on the computers as much as other programs. In fact, when Brian was there 10 or 11 years ago checking the college out when he graduated from High School, the program was immensely outdated...and it hasn't changed an ounce since then!! So, we wrote off WSU and headed out to LTU. And, only a few classes (closer to none) will transfer to WSU. So, we'd most likely end up redoing everythign we did at HFCC. The only thing that still looked nice about Wayne State was the $183 price tag on their credit hours.
Lawrence Technological University was completely different. The campus is smaller, more the size we're used to dealing with from Henry Ford Community College, it appears as though we'd have more in common with the student body, their program is constantly updated, the entire campus is Wi-Fi (Wireless) and each student is issued a school laptop (bonus!), 200 of the Fortune 500 companies seek graduates from LTU for employment, LTU graduates consistently make more money than other IT professionals, and - parking isn't a bitch like it was at WSU! Oh yes, and they will accept up to 60 credit hours from HFCC, and after having looked over our transcripts, most of our classes will come through. The downer (there always is one, isn't there?) is the price tag. LTU wants $586 a credit hour. That's an additional $403 above Wayne State. But, the price is well worth it.
So, the next step was to talk to Aunt Barabara. Brian did a wonderful job explaining the school to her, explaining why the other schools we checked out were not what we wanted, and then finally he landed the bomb on her. If we were to go full time, one semester would cost us just around $7,000 - that's without any scholarships or grants applied. And, amazingly enough, Aunt Barbara still said for us to go for it. I can't believe it. We're going to LTU! Of course, we still have yet to fill out the applications and get accepted; however, after speaking with the LTU Admissions Rep, I'm confident we'll be accepted. Bri's GPA is a 3.2, mine is a 3.6 (and on the rise).
So, once again my requirements at HFCC have changed. When I first started going in 2001, I wanted to be a teacher (part of me still does, I just don't think I'd be able to handle the job for 30 years...) After a couple of semesters off, I realized I didn't want to be a teacher and switched to the CIS program. And now, I'm most likely not going to be pursuing a HFCC Associate's Degree, instead I'll be grabbing only the Gen Ed classes and transferring them in. Or maybe, since I'm so close to an Associates, I'll finish up the associates, and then take all of the gen ed classes for LTU and transfer everythign in. What I probably should do is sit down and talk all this over with an HFCC counselor.
I'm really excited, I want to be able to start LTU now, but I don't want to take too much advantage of Aunt Barbarba's generosity. I'd prefer, instead, to get as many of the LTU classes that I'll need out of the way at HFCC (which is like $90 a credit hour) and then start getting things underway at LTU. Who knows, maybe HFCC will be able to graduate me with an Assoicate of Arts or something. :P
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