A Morning Cup of Soy

Soy milk floating in my coffee reminds me of Miso soup.

But nothing tastes better. Like peanut butter n’ jelly.

Organic you say? We will see about that!

The word ‘organic‘ isn’t slapped onto foods just to get health nuts to buy them. And if that were the case, those products would get weeded out quick by the public and the stores that are maintaining their reputation.

‘Organic’ simply informs the consumer that what they are looking at has all-natural ingredients. There is nothing processed, no chemical reactions were made in the creation of the product, no crazy ingredients that you can also find in interior paints. Just great-grandmas old-school method of throwing a few things together to feed the family.

Take pancakes for example. Although I usually stick to waffles I heard about this product through a few friends last night.

…Organic pancake batter… in a can! Batter Blasters!

That sounds great but I’m skeptical. If it is organic, then whats going on with this ingredient list I found on their website:

Ingredients and Nutrition
Filtered water
Organic wheat flour (unbleached)
Organic cane sugar
Organic whole egg solids
Organic soybean powder
Sodium lactate (lactic acid from beet sugar)
DiCalcium phosphate (leavening agent)
Sea salt
Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
Organic rice bran extract

I’m seeing a compound here. DiCalcium phosphate used as a leavening  agent. So, what is this stuff?

Calcium phosphate is a compound containing inorganic materials. It is found naturally in milks, bone, teeth, and as minerals in the earth.

The compound is highly insoluble but some argue that insolubility helps the absorption on nutrients.

So, whether this product should be considered “organic” by its natural origin, or inorganic by its make-up, is relative. I’m sure some people will not eat this product for this reason, others will have a better understanding of what dicalcium phosphate is and find no concerns in eating this product.

However, nutritionally, this compound has been argued that it causes kidney stones. (see the source here).

But this argument goes beyond the scope of what is considered “organic”.

In conclusion?

Is this product lying to you? I don’t think so. I think the creators genuinely desire to create a good product that people can enjoy and trust. Obviously, their opinion is that dicalcium phosphate is organic by nature.

Is it misleading? Perhaps. Why they don’t use yeast as their leavening agent is beyond me, but I would suggest a revision on the ingredients.

Then again, I am no nutritional chemist so what do I know? This is only my consumer voice speaking.

Would I eat them?

You know, after all of this research on the topic, I think I will stick to my waffles, but thanks!

A free spirit and A clear mind….

Endless Blue by www.Digitalblasphemy.com

~~~2nd chances.~~~

Luck isn’t something you can find. It’s definitely not something that you can force into your life. Actually, luck really has no place in life at all anyway! It makes as much sense to attribute success to a god and failures to a devil.

Then, what is luck? How do I define a chain of events that seem like I hit a lucky streak?

A place of familiarities. Why did I decide to uproot myself from a place I knew so well? A place that never did me wrong? Well, I moved for the simple satisfaction of exploration and as fulfilling as it was, it made me realize what I had left behind. I guess you could say that I developed a greater appreciation for my old town in Austin, Texas.

And now that I am back, I’m full of positive energy and I get the feeling inside of my heart that makes me feel I’m treading on clouds made of gold.

Yeah, it’s a temporary feeling, but I might as well take advantage of it while the gettin‘ is good.

Ok, so back in Austin and I’m eating healthier, living healthier, loving more, and feeling free. WOW! How did I get this way?? I used to be depressed. I used to be so angry and so pessimistic. My old philosophy was to think negatively about an outcome that way I could never be let down. Bummer!!

Now my new philosophy is that thinking positively will create success.

You know, I wonder… could it be… could it be that this changed attitude is a side effect of being pescetarian??? Nah, no way. However, maybe being pescetarian is a side effect of thinking positively about life. Loving life, in turn, loving my own body and treating it well.

So, back to my question; what is luck? Moreover, what is creating the good things happening in my life? Is it so simple to say that positive thinking breeds success? Maybe it is that simple. How? Positive thinking vitalizes motivation. It releases chemicals in the brain that stimulate the senses and muscles which gets you up into the world and motivated making you feel like, well, a superhero.

But motivation sometimes needs a little help. It needs organization because motivation does you no good if you don’t know what to get motivated about. So, with this flowing river of motivation, I wrote down goals. Short-term goals (to be accomplished in 2 years) and long-term goals (to be accomplished in 5 years).

Now that I have my goals defined, my motivation has a place to go. All I have to do is look at my goals and start tackling them just like a to-do list. Or even a shopping list! I look at the list and the list tells me which ‘isle’ to go down to grab my goal and put it in the bag! It’s a funny analogy but it makes sense and puts the worries of tackling big things, such as goals, at ease.

Long story short; luck is positive thinking. Obviously it’s not a change over night but its a way of convincing the mind and body to get up and get active. Be proactive. Stop worrying and start doing! Remember that old saying?

Hey Sprint: It’s about Freakin’ Time!

The new excitement: Android. The competition to the greedy Apple iPhone. However, everyone is getting the pleasure of Android… except us Sprint customers!!!

that’s finally changing. This summer, Sprint will be releasing its new Android installed smartphone called the HTC EVO. HTC already makes great phones so this is a duo made in heaven. EVO also touts 4G coverage but also works with 3G.

This phone also breaks through with a front facing 8.0 megapixel camera with HD video capture, HDTV videos, WiMax for up to 8 devices, a 1GHz processor, and a multitasking interface!!!

Plus, The EVO is rumored to connect on-the-go through Clearwire.

All of this sound fabulous? Are you jealous yet?

Maybe this will help. Since I am out of contract, I will be getting a very nice discount. This hot phone is what I’ve been waiting for!

Bye-bye Apple!

“A Conscientious Carnivore.” pt. 1: Eat your veggies!

Let’s evaluate the “healthy diet”…

low carb…

low cal…

small food portions…

no dessert…

no taste…

grumbly tummy…

No thanks!

This world has way too much to offer for me to eat chicken breasts and dry salads. What about Lasagna and cheese enchiladas and Ben n Jerry’s ice cream?? hell no I won’t pass that up!

So, here is my method and since its inception back in November of ’09, I have had noticable results. I can share that later, if you’d like, but first, my method to dietary zen…

Rule 1:
Go Veggie! And if you really want to go extreme, go vegan! Not all the time, though!! Sin! Be a sinful vegetarian! Make the food gods weep and eat meat, too!

Meat can be a part of a healthy habit, just learn when its right to eat meat.

You might ask: “When is it right for a vegetarian to eat meat??”
Ok, what I’m really saying is, pick up the veggie habit. Eat vegetarian dishes. Order a portabella steak instead, get a veggie patty on your burger. (mmmm… they sound scary, but they are actually very tasty!) The veggie options are full of flavor and full of feeling good!

Rule 2:
Actually, my best suggestion… and this will satisfy your craving for meats, plus make it easier to order off the restaurant menu… go pescatarian.

“What’s a pescatarian?”
Pescatarians have a vegetarian diet that includes fish and shellfish but excludes mammals and birds.

Now your new diet opens up to include fish tacos, sushi, and a yummy fillet o’ fish.

Rule 3:
Cut the cheese… seriously! No cheddar, no swiss, definitely no American. Cut out all fatty cheeses. You will notice a substantial change in your body and health within the month. This doesn’t have to be a permanent thing but do try it for a month and see how you do.

Extreme alternative:
If you can stand it, 86 all dairy for a month! Milk, ice cream, yogurt, cheese, cream sauces, anything cream. Don’t do it… for a month!

Then, after the month, ween yourself back into dairy by using fat-free milk or soy milk. Use italian dressing as a condiment instead of mayo or miracle whip (ew!). Use goat cheese. Aged cheeses. And many cheeses come in a low-fat form.
Once you have completed a month of the no cheese program, don’t destroy your success by eating tons of cheese again. Build a controlled relationship with cheese. Include it only some of the time. When you cook or when you order prepared foods, ask for no cheese. This technique will keep cheese in your diet and the fat out of your arteries!!

Rule 4:
We can explore organics and farm-raised together later but what I want you to know now is that eating mammals and birds is ok… just KNOW WHERE THEY CAME FROM!
It may cost you more to buy farm-raised meat, but keep this in mind; supply and demand changes everything. In time, the prices will go down, as they already have. Then again, if you’re following this diet anyway, you should be saving some money.
The concern here shouldn’t be your bank account. If you have to, sacrifice somewhere. The concern you should have is what you are putting into your body!
Hormones, animal antibiotics. Unhealthy living conditions. The various parasitic outbreaks should give you an indication on just how disgusting the meat is for you.

Go ahead! Try this plan out for a month. Make note of your favorite dishes and make note of how you are doing. Writing down your progress can serve as encouragement. If you slip up, no big deal! This plan is to guide you! Not make you into a veggie control freak! Look for restaurants that serve up quick lunch dishes and see if they have a veggie option. Search for vegetarian recipes online or through other veggie friends… or I would love to share a few of my own that are freakin’ delicious.

When you go out to eat, simply ask where the meat comes from. If you can’t get adequate info, then order the fish or a vegetarian substitute. Veggie items are always cheaper anyway!

This is NOT you being snotty. This is your life. Not everyone will get it and you can’t force them, but through your actions you can set an example for others! And that’s our goal, right?

After a month, you will notice a change in mood, in body, and in the physical way you feel. Your fatigue will be less and you will start to develop a control over your bodies dependency on certain foods.

Gaining control and being conscientious every step of the way is the path to dietary zen! heehee.

Dig in!  

‘Cause I’ll be Dancin’

At over 22 million views on Youtube.com, Lady Gaga’s newest music video, Telephone, is getting all sorts of feedback. Some find it fascinating, some find it appalling. But the real focus is what it represents. No one needs to understand the reason for the cans in Lady Gaga’s Coke-head hair-do. It’s pop! There is no single answer.

Just like fashion or art, it’s is a persons own ideas that make up a piece of work. Don’t ask why there are product plugs. She’s funding her entire tour from her own pocket.

I think the video is her interpretation of self-expression. It may seem weird, but imagine if you could freely express yourself. Do you think anyone would find your interpretation ‘normal’?

Then again, I have only become a serious fan about 3 months ago. I won’t know much until I get the chance to experience her in concert. But whatever, that video is some seriously impressive shit! It’s like looking into the mind of Gaga!

So, when are you coming to Las Vegas, Lady Gaga?

Per her website it seems she will be here in August. The 13th at the MGM Grand. Tickets have NOT gone on sale yet, however and rumor has it, they will be pret-ty pricey! Let’s hope not!

Surprisingly, the douchebaggary is nation wide

…and I thought I could escape it. Nope! Even in Nevada, douchebags come in the same shapes and sizes as they did in Texas.

So, I’m at this bar enjoying a cocktail while watching the t.v. and sloughing off the days responsibilities. A guy, with more cliché tattoos than brain cells and his hat on sideways (not a good look!), comes to stand uncomfortably close to me and stares at me until I can feel the heat of his mindless stare and forcing me to look. I look back at him, curious what sludge this guy is going to spill from his mouth, and he says to me the thing I hate the most! He tells me to “smile.” Really!!! This is the most asinine comment I have ever heard anyone say!

You may not understand right away why this bugs me so much so let me explain…

When I go into a bar I am not there to shine my glossy pearly whites to the entire crowd. I am not there to impress every guy who walks through the door. Plus, what in the hell is going on in this guys head that makes him think he just came up with an original come on?!? I don’t get a lot of guys approaching me, maybe  2 or 3 in a night, but this is not an original comment, dude! And it’s not even cute! This simple approach of guys is an instant giveaway. Whatever this guy is thinking, it doesn’t matter because I can already deduce from that comment  that he is;

1. unintelligent
2. socially clueless
3. obviously lacks any self-awareness
4. NOT clever which makes him very un-funny and eventually, annoying
5. NOT my type of person at all, so go away…
6. A douchebag

What is it with these guys. My initial instinct is to die in laughter but that would be socially unacceptable of course, so what should I do?

I come up with something even more clever to say ( not very hard) which not only excuses me from the conversation and keeps the douchebag from communicating with me further, but it also allows the douchebag to become self-aware that he, in fact, is an ass-clown.

“Hey, thanks! I see now, that I did forget to smile. You are so helpful! Oh, but before I do, do you mind if I take a sip of my cocktail? It’s really hard to drink with no lips.”

This type of response will elicit a “bitch” from the douchebag, but don’t worry. This isn’t the type of guy that will ever affect how anyone else perceives you…everyone knows he is a douchebag. People are typically his friend only because of superficial reasons like he pays for drinks or is a source of amusement when he gets drunk. So don’t worry about anything that comes out of his mouth. It is usually wrong.

My technique serves many purposes and are indicative of my psychology background. I am only trying to help the douchebags out there! We cannot discriminate against them otherwise they will never get better, or worse, could form organizations!! Instead, we can all work together to show the douchebags in this country that we understand their ineptitude, we are compassionate for their lack of self-esteem and lack of identity.

Try this technique next time you are in your comfort zone and a strange guy walks up to you and says; “Hey, you look sad. Is it your boyfriend? Do you want to talk about it?”

In writing this post I had to get a clearer meaning on what douchabag really meant. I wrote this whole article with a theme in mind but am I using it in the correct way?

Then, I invested a little time in researching the meaning of other favorite words like tool, asshat and its derivative asshattery, assclown, and toolshed. Thanks to urban dictionary, I think I have a better understanding of what I really am calling people.

A douchebag is a person who has an over-inflated sense of self-worth, compounded by a low-level of intelligence, behaving ridiculously in front of colleagues with no sense of how moronic he appears. “Your boss is a real douchebag!”

Now a tool, used almost synonymously with douchebag, is actually quite different. A tool is a person who, like douchebag, has no idea they are a tool, they try too hard resulting in being dubbed a poser, and gets used by others. What separates these two adjectives is that a tool never fits in and displays his toolism to the entire room. “Let’s go to that bar with all the tools, the music sucks but they get us free drinks and I’m broke.”

Asshat. This little gem doesn’t get used enough! Some of my favorite definitions are;

1. One who has their head up their ass. Thus wearing their ass as a hat.
2. A person, of either gender, whose behavior displays such ignorance/obnoxiousness that you would like to make them wear their own ass as a hat.
3. a unit vector in the ass direction.

“Hey asshat, thanks for double parking.”

And asshattery. Asshattery is a verb and is used to describe the acts of one or more asshats. “I demand that all of you stop this asshattery at once!”

Assclown. one, who, through the fault of his parents conception, is a skid mark in society’s collective underwear. “Chris Brown is an ass-clown.”

Toolshed. This is a new one for me but I discovered it while perusing the internets: Toolshed is a giant douchebag, that uses money to make himself look cool. Mainly, however, it is a kid who tries to be something he is not. “Let’s leave this place, it’s a damn toolshed in here!”

Overcoming the b.s. of beginner’s luck…

The first time I ever gambled at a Las Vegas casino, I doubled my money with only $50, a $5 minimum roulette wheel, and a bit of beginner’s luck.  This was my first time in Las Vegas, my first casino, my first bet…my first time. First times are always a blast!

But to the detriment of my bank account, I thought I had it all figured out. I had a system. My system… read the numbers and bet on odds. If three blacks hit in a row, well then, bet on red. Easy!

Not hardly.

My second time playing roulette I lost everything. Then, thinking my system was still flawless, I pulled out more money hoping to make my money backand then some and guess what, big surprise, I lost my ass on that too.

I tried to convince myself that it was all part of a good time but that loss hurt me bad! Not so much the money, but the fact that I lost to the house, they have my money, and I had to wait 30 minutes for my drink! (Cocktails in Vegas are slow by the way!)

Being in the hole a good $100, I vowed not to play roulette again… But that’s all I know how to play! So, my friend tells me “Don’t be a dummy! You have no business walking into the fancy casinos and throwing your pathetic $100 around! Go to Fremont Street, and put your ass at a $2.00 or ¢.50 tables.” This guy knows his stuff about 60% of the time, so I had to take his advice.

Fremont Street. Located downtown and is the old part of Vegas. Beware of seedy folks, cheesy entertainment, and the smell of old. We parked in the shady El Cortez casino parking garage at Fremont and 6^th then strutted over to the old strip. We sifted through the various casinos, grabbing cheap drinks that were 80% alcohol from flare bartenders (only $4!), and avoiding the drunk middle-aged, and various “circus” characters. Lots and lots of options, but where were the cheap tables my friend spoke of? In and out of identical casinos we ran out of options except one Fitzgerald’s. OK friend, this is your last shot. And there it was, everything I needed in a table: a wheel, a cocktail, and ¢.50 chips, fabulous!

With a little artificial courage and $20 each, we sit down ready to have a little fun. The people were relaxed and casual wearing plastic beads around their necks and sandals on their feet. Not like the glossy people on the Vegas strip, this was smooth and comfortable. Everyone playing for fun… and maybe to win a few bucks.

An hour later and lots of fun, I walked away with $80! I still used my old system, but this time the minimum bet was $2 so the loss was not as painful.

So, what is my idea of a great night out? Free drinks, but going out, getting free drinks AND going home with more money than I had, that is divine!

There is a change in the air…

I love moving to a new city and being encapsulated by beauty. The mountain ranges of Las Vegas and the Cherry Blossoms that dominate the walkways.

Who new Vegas had beauty outside of the strip? Shiny flashy glowy expensive. I’m in Vegas, dead broke and each day I experience something new. Some beautiful realization wonders its way into my senses.

These things build a trust for this city. A warm cozy feeling that the loneliness and uncertainty tried to hide from me.

This place is beautiful. Did I mention that, yet? I feel inspired and beyond the four white walls that bond me, I can hear an opportunity knocking. I can feel a shift from left to right, my vision changes with that shift and I am embracing the emergence of a creative self. There will always be the other side if in case this one doesn’t provide. Independence is a hard animal to catch, but keep pursuing and the hunter will always catch the game.

Now to update my blog. No longer am I an Austinite, I am a Las Vegan and now I have a new playground to fall in love with.

How niave we are…

We have all of this technology in our hands and most of us have no clue just how powerful it can be. Human scientists have created some amazing stuff and even those who call themselves professionals cannot figure most of it out. They get beyond their boundaries of training and they are simpletons!

No wonder there are so many movies about computers taking over humanity. I can believe it!

I have been struggling with technological issues for quite some time now.

First, it was my desktop PC, then it was my brand new notebook, now my so-called smartphone.

Smartphone?!?

I think what it really is, is a phone that was created by people who think they themselves are smart, but actually, are quite ego-centric and so malicious that they created the phone as a joke on consumers and are sitting back, right now, in their diamond encrusted lawn chairs laughing at all of us.

I think Bill Gates is doing the same thing. Gates and his Vista!!!

I would like to think Steve Jobs is more humble that that. I would also like to believe that when I get my first Apple notebook, my world will be a better place.

I am at a loss! I am searching for a new solution to my problems everyday, and spending hours of my day with fruitless effort is killing me. I’m angry, I want to see my laptop die a destructive painful death, and Sprint to kiss my… yeah, that thing!

Solution #198: Download McAfee, run scan, remove Trojan, connect to phone, no more worries, be happy…

Boohoo… I feel a disappointment coming on…