Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in klusha111's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, January 7th, 2010
5:58 am	i'm so excited I really am pretty darned excited, as nerdy as this might sound, to better understand nutrition and the different calculations of how things should work. Calories, grams of protein/carbohydrates/fats, water intake, timing. There's all a system to it, whether you're losing, maintaining, or gaining, a man or a woman, regardless of your current bodyfat or weight. The first step to another gradual diet modification is to figure out the eventual goal. That's what I've been doing. The next step after this is going to be micro-planning meals and days and dietary budgets. I'm learning this is going to take some discipline and motivation, and it's going to get monotonous. But you can't put a price on doing things the right way.Protein!Protein intake is the most important of any dietary change, obviously, with the goals of either maintaining or gaining body weight (specifically muscle). Of protein, there are different types, incomplete and complete. Fruits, vegetables, and grains are examples of incomplete proteins, whereas lean meats, dairy, egg (whites), and protein supplements are examples of complete proteins. What makes a protein complete is the cast of amino acids it contains, like letters in an alphabet comprising the sentences that form the poetry of your body. (Haha.) It's important that we get all of these amino acids in a complete protein in order for our bodies to rebuild our muscle and build new. Our body can produce some inessential proteins, about half of them--though the more we get through our diets, the less internal cannibalism our body needs to use. As for the other half, we have to get that through our diets, or else! And we have to get it all at the same juncture in order for internal protein production to not need to be triggered for muscle rebuilding, and timing-wise, that needs to happen during the point of rebuilding, or the "days off" period after a high-intensity, high-weight, low-rep workout of a muscle group. Considering that it takes 24-36 hours for that cycle to complete, usually, and my plan is to work bodyparts 3 times in 9 days, the protein intake has to be monitored every day.We can gauge what appropriate protein intake would be most effectively by measuring nitrogen, and the nitrogen balance of one's body. Nitrogen is released in waste (fecal matter!) as our body rebuilds itself. I didn't realize before my research that muscle, skeletal structure, and visceral organs are all like skin--skin is completely reproduced and removed within a 28-30 day period, muscles a 12-month period, your skeleton in three. There was a good quote, to the extent of your body being a building made of bricks, however, in this building, in a year's time, all bricks are taken out, one-by-one, and replaced. (It goes on to further the analogy that if your blueprint and materials don't change, your building will always look the same, and you just won't realize that the bricks are being replaced each year.) Fascinating, right? I couldn't believe it. Anyway, nitrogen balance is achieved when intake is equal to or greater than nitrogen output (which is measured in waste). Since protein is consumed, nitrogen included, and nitrogen is stored in the skeletal muscle systems, the amount of nitrogen waste contrasted with nitrogen intake can show us, scientifically, that increased protein intake DOES mean absorption and muscle growth. So it's not all fluff. Positive nitrogen balance is what we want if we're trying to build our muscles (hypertrophy). Negative nitrogen balance results in atrophy. This is the basis of measuring protein's effect and how scientific studies have concluded upon the range of acceptable protein intakes for weight loss, maintenance, or reduction; what is most interesting is that the FDA's RDA for protein is less than 0.4g per pound of bodyweight, yet studies and conventional bodybuilding wisdom tells us that ranges so low are catabolic in nature.Acceptable ranges for maintenance and growth are from .8g (with a .2g buffer, so 1g) to 1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight result in anabolic synthesis (for those who aren't familiar, the word "anabolism" has nothing to do with steroids, just the synthesis or combination of simple molecules into complex organism molecules). So in my case, a freshly-weighed 190lbs, I should be consuming about 200g of protein daily.But there's a way to even further break it down, based on common standards for caloric intake and dietary consumption. Calories, for those who (like yours truly) were unaware, aren't anything that literally exists or that can be avoided or harvested. They're merely a measure of energy expenditure during your body's processing of the three main types of sustainable substances: protein, carbohydrates, and fats. It's generally accepted that for weight gain (what we're going for here in a bulking cycle, muscle growth), 3000-3500 calories daily intake are required. Of that range, or of any range (it varies based on your gender and weight loss/maintenance/gain goals, among other smaller factors, and I can answer any specific questions as to caloric ranges), the breakdown should be 30% proteins, 55% carbohydrates, and 15% fats. This can vary based on goals (low-carbohydrate dieting, endurance athletes (more energy=more carb needs), or carbohydrate sensitivity (insulin-resistance). For my needs, I calculated a range of 3000-3500 calories, and the number of calories for each, and then the number of grams of protein to supply that amount of protein: 3000 calories - 3500 calories calories from protein (30%) 900 - 1050 calories from carbohydrates (55%) 1650 - 1925 calories from fats (15%) 450 - 525 grams of protein required (1g = 4 cals from protein) 225g - 262g grams of fat required (1g = 9 cals from protein) 50g - 58g So, basically, I need to consume no less than about 225g of protein, and 262g would be ideal. (For maintenance caloric intakes, I'd only need about 80-100 grams of protein a day. Less than that would mean weight loss, and therefore a negative nitrogen balance.) But the calculated amounts are pretty close to the 1-1.5g/lb bodyweight figures (200-300g for a ~200lb man), as you can see. They make for a good goal.That's a lot of protein. I'll be getting it through the following sources:Best: chicken breasts, turkey breasts, lean steak, eggs (whites only), protein shakesGood: low-fat dairy products, fish, shrimp/lobster/crabs/clamsPoor: non-lean meats such as most beef (too high saturated fat), incomplete protein pairings (e.g. rice and beans, which together in massive quantities are complete or nearly complete)Bad: incomplete proteinsAs far as shakes go, I need to find some good shakes that are a blend of three key types of proteins, a fast-digesting whey isolate, slower-acting casein, and system-enhancing soy. I have yet to do conclusive searching of shake contents, in addition to taste requirements, and so my next goal is to find good shakes and purchase them. Shakes are key because they will make up 40-50% of the protein caloric intake. The rest will be real food including the meat, egg, and dairy products listed above. This requires a complete diet plan, and in my case (and I'm sure many readers' cases) a complete dietary reworking. (Not to mention the additional water consumption that protein synthesis requires, what I've estimated to be about 128 ounces daily.) All of that planning, including meal plans and recipes, are a forthcoming entry. Let me know your thoughts, generally, as well as specific suggestions for shakes. I appreciate it. Thanks for reading this far! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
2:20 am	yes, public I woke up at Corby's dorm and after we went on a nice jog, I found myself browsing my "masochistic preoccupations" bookmark folder, and in that is a friend's blog. Browsing to catch up (I've been so busy with work and working out that I've gotten behind on all things internets) what do I find? Besides the usual talk of his shows and graduation and psychotherapy, there's a little mini-rant about yours truly! How exciting! I'm efamous! Just for the record, there are things wrong with you and me. The only things I can think of would be your little "you're crazy!" eyebrow faces that I told you were insulting, your obsessive body image standards, and then of course your fear of intimacy. But hey, we've all got our hang-ups. I'm personally glad we've distanced ourselves, too, because a lot of your neuroses were really unhealthy to be around, and it's unpleasant to have your relationship so much revolve around talking about someone else (crazy specifically). I theorize that your psychologist was trying to contrast my methods of calling you on your shit with her own to distance herself from the negative connotations you absorbed from aforementioned third parties and self-discrepencies. That's fine. It's too bad that you don't see how uncouth it was to publicly write about me like that, because now I've had to do the same.Now, he isn't a bad guy. He's quite intelligent in areas that made him an enjoyable friend, he's conversational sometimes, and he's generally well-rounded with a pleasant sense of humor. Unfortunately for our already-challenged friendship, I just don't keep people around who want to casually mention me in such a manner, so I'll have to say, "See you later!"In other news, work is going fabulously, and finally I have a day off (today). It's nice to relax and not smell/look like the whole store exploded all over my face and body. It's also refreshing to get 8 hours of sleep, I think I'm going to pencil in 8 hours nightly and try to stick to it. I need to do some laundry. Maybe I can shrink things a bit, because my pants are starting to get loose, and I'm like right between belt holes in my favorite belt. It's frustrating. That's the plan. And reading some more ACT prep.edit: made friends-filtered, 28th may 2005, 7:40pm.edit 2: due to false accusations, made public and screened selected comments, 2nd june 2005, 5:00pm, proving that i didn't delete any comments or the post. i just didn't feel that the discourse between eric and i needed to be completely public. the post itself i still feel should be public. screening the personal comments was a better choice. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 4th, 2010
10:27 pm	ideology change So I've been working out with Corby 5 nights a week.. at 24 hour fitness. The manager gave us a trial for two weeks, and it ends at the end of the month. We do a 10 minute cardio warm-up, and then spend the rest of 2 hours hitting the weights and machines, alternating upper and lower body days and concentrating on the heaviest weights for low reps (8-10) for size. I really like the way it feels. Seeing the huge guys there has inspired me again. Seeing guys stripping off layers of their clothes for summer has inspired me. Thinking about what I really want has inspired me. Really getting proactive at work and getting out and doing stuff every day has inspired me to go for what I want.I ushered in a new phase of my life the day that I decided I wanted to be a wireless industry expert; I did it again when I decided I wanted to be a makeup artist. Then last year I decided that I wanted to get my undergraduate degree, and that's starting this fall, while it's a considerably more gradual and long-term goal than before. I think this is the point where I decide the next phase of goals in my life, and those are an extension of the body image successes I've had in the last few years. I've learned about style, about hair, about skincare and makeup, I've lost almost a hundred pounds in bodyfat, I've found my personal style, I've discovered new levels of artistic and creative expression. Learned innumerable amounts of data, intricacies, styles, histories, trends, preferences, marketing, arts, idiologies. I've maintained the key well-roundedness despite several transitions in focus in my life. Next, I want to realize the destiny that I've had all along: I want to be a bodybuilder. Not so much a competitive one, but I want the body I've dreamed about. I want to be muscular. I'm ready to invest every ounce of energy I have, hours at the gym, sacrifices of foods and experiences that won't help my progress, and a sizable amount of money into the required assets (gym memberships, protein supplements, meal replacements, a healthy diet). I want so badly to have the body that I desire--it's probably my biggest goal outside of career-wise (which, truly, careers are more of an indirect path to happiness, so if anything it's BIGGER than my career goals). I'm not being arrogant when I say that intellectually I'm not challenged, but some things come natural to me. I love to read, I love being a geek, I love mastering everything I touch in life, I love my personality and consider it anything but a meathead's; my body, my physical presence, now that's more of a challenge for me.This is not just a significant change in path for my choices in the future (though what won't be affected are my current job, my pursuit of a degree in psychology, or my personality), it's also a minor change to my body image goals now. For the past few years I've been rationalizing that I should start small and see if I can master the science behind health, the specifics of dietary habits, even my own weight loss--I wanted to be more fit, to have a standard body, to make progress and take ownership of my own body. Do you know how many hours a week I read men's fitness magazines, bodybuilding magazines, surf the websites, learn about the exercises and supplements what I can? How much of my bookshelf is filled with personal fitness, weight loss, nutrition, and other books of a similar vein? A lot. This is a passion I've had for a long time, fitness, and I see it within my grasp. I haven't been working out for 6 months before this last week, and I feel those last 6 depressed, unemployed, lazy months have been the worst of my life. I don't want to go back there. I'm about 15lbs away from being the absolute lowest BMI for a healthy man at my height. That feels great. I don't want to be emaciated or supermodel-skinny. I might joke about it, like with this "thinspiration" icon (lulz), but that's not what I want. I want to grow as much as I can and maximize what I've got here for bone structure and motivation. There's no try here, I will be huge and have the body that I want. I will have to work hard and dedicate what may be several years, maybe a decade, or the rest of my life, including a part of my lifestyle (time, effort, money, choices), but it's going to be worth it to feel that satisfaction that comes from earning and building something just for myself.I know that not everyone will understand or support my goals, or lifestyle sacrifices, or even my training choices, but I'm never going to be able to shed this dream, and I don't plan on stopping myself until I get what I want. Sometimes I might need some encouragement, sometimes I might need a spotter, sometimes I might need my friends and family to understand that there's a huge reason behind the choices that I make, whether it's that I can't hang out when my workout partner is waiting for me or go out and eat nasty foods if I'm in a cutting cycle, and sometimes I might need some honest advice. I just hope that everyone reading this understands how important this is to me on so many levels that I continue my work on becoming who I want to become in the future and build something permanent and yet just for myself. I want this and I can already taste it. This change in exercise, lifestyle, and body ideology isn't something that I want to be met with negativity, because that's not welcome in my life. I support your dreams, and I hope you can support mine.So, anyway, to close, I'm going to throw some clothes in my gym bag and throw around some iron. I love being able to access my gym twenty-four hours a day! (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
7:28 pm	house of wax While it did earn the title of the goriest movie I have ever seen, there were several times that I attempted to walk out of HOUSE OF WAX--but Mary stopped me. I really wish I had. The acting was mediocre, there were the standard illogical horror movie mistakes, the plot was predictable, and the sequence of horrific events adheres to an extremely cinematically unpleasant beat. You just don't get a chance to breathe before being assaulted with more. And, I know, everyone is excited about seeing Paris Hilton die, but I really didn't find it all that entertaining. I did laugh at Mary's screaming. I left the theatre very dissatisfied, because I just did not agree with the movie's course, level of gore, plot crappiness, those little nagging things that don't make sense. (How could wax adhere to skin, with skin oils, enough that Wade's face would fall off while he's still alive? How can skin harden so much that it would break off like that? How could the House of Wax not have any structural support? How could her finger be cut off and not hurt? How come she didn't use her saliva to eat through the super-glue?) I can't recommend seeing this movie, but, I'll say that it was a cheap thrill for those who enjoy the masochism of horror flicks. I completely don't--I was angry and bitchy and sigh-y for a good 10 minutes after we left the movie. Ask Mary!Note to self: don't waste time/money on horror flicks ever again. Go see movies like CRASH that will give you a new perspective on life, or movies that will make you cry. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
5:56 pm	lnk ahoy This weekend will be in the fabulous LNK! I totally just found my size 11 jeans that I had lost for a GOOD 5 months. SO HAPPY. They still fit great--like sausage casing! Bwahaha. The perfect jeans for being social this weekend with my fashion muse Mary (twiness). Tonight is a gradumutation partay for Billy (wdinger), and according to Mary there will be plenty of pesto dip for us to ravage. Then the remainder of the weekend, we're working out (I hope we can find cameltoe Pilates lady), tanning, shopping, having a craft corner death match, eating more pesto than advisable, making fun of piggies, making a burn book, and Cher knows what else! *CACKLE*Now it's time to go primp and throw some clothes in my bag. I already hit snooze for like 2 hours today. And I'm still procrastinating. But this is where I draw the line.. I'm posting a stupidmemequizresult. But it's worth it.The Keys to ibrad's Heart You are attracted to those who have a split personality - cold as ice on the outside but hot as fire in the heart. (Ed. note: this is funny because I am attracted to crazies historically! LULZZ) In love, you feel the most alive when your partner is patient and never willing to give up on you. You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring. Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred. In this moment, you think of love as something you can get or discard anytime. You're feeling self-centered. (This sealed it, I had to post.) get your keys.Also, this is my new theme song. (take a piece of me, serve me up on a plate in your restaurant.) (Comment on this)
Friday, January 1st, 2010
4:07 pm	garageband is hot I just totally made my first ever mix/mash/edit in GarageBand. It was way difficult. I had no idea how hard it was to mash two songs and match together beats and keys and the exact right points in the song to transition or overlay. Let alone how difficult it is even in the simplest of audio applications to like move around clips and apply sound effects. It's not like you're editing one image frame or that you can all that easily see exactly what you're dealing with and edit/move/remove it. By far the hardest part of the process is listening, and then going back, and selecting, and then you can modify, move, or whatever. Each time you don't like what you just changed, you have to listen to it, decide what to change/move, and then start the process over. So time-consuming, compared to something that takes just a glance in realtime to decide you don't like it, such as in my design forte.Anyway, to compound things, I have no idea how to strip instrumentals from a track, I have no a cappella tracks, and I couldn't find a good place online to download any a cappella tracks (without too much trouble, or in the style I want), so... I used one of my favorite Crank Yankers tracks!If I ever make anything again, audio-wise, at least I'll be able to look at this as a starting point, someday. I figure it's mostly a proof of concept, but wow, if it doesn't fit together at all the right parts with the instrumental track I used, and with the minor editing I made to that, and my reuse and filtering of the audio clips of the Crank Yankers recording, I'll be damned: it's technically a mash. I sent it to two people and they were like, "what," though I think that's more to do with the potential genre of what I put together (house/electroclash with spoken word vocals). I guess if anybody wants to hear it, they can ask me on AIM nicely and I may oblige their masochism. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 31st, 2009
2:46 pm	LULZ All you whores who are spamming GreenZap all over LiveJournal and MySpace probably just got scammed, or are in the process: http://www.greenzapscam.com/Ouch. SUX2BU!!11one (Comment on this)
2:48 am	I'm getting really tired of not having internet access at home I'm getting really tired of not having internet access at home, how I can't post things when I think of them (so I end up with huge long boring entries where I don't really go into detail or put forth much effort because there is just too much to write about). I hate not being able to google for answers to random questions I think up, or look for images or stock photography for things I am producing, things like that. I have grown to become internet-dependant over the years. While at first being without internet was kind of like an adventure--roughing it, you know--now it has grown aggravating and tedious and my life is completely boring. Or rather, it would be, if I didn't have all of the drama going on. I just want to go back to a simpler life without drama. Where I could drown myself in LiveJournal and Friendster and Google and mac rumors and phone geekery and AIM and IRC and gnutella and my websites and all of my friends scattered about the world who were the only ones that were nice to me.Instead, I have the library. I think there are 30 other people on these shitty wintels surfing the web, and I have come to the conclusion that we are sharing a 28.8kbps dialup connection. There really could be no other answer, considering the abhorrent download/display speeds I am tolerating. Little is more infuriating than knowing exactly what you want, but having to wait, in silence, unsure if you will ever get it.Stay tuned for continued friends-only posts. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
11:29 pm	i'm irresistable you fool Apparently the contract you sign when getting a checking account falls under that whole "legally binding contract" thing that causes problems for 18-year-olds in Nebraska. I learned this while trying to open an account at Security National Bank. Apparently what I signed with Commercial Federal really doesn't hold any water, so I could run up ten grand in bounced checks and not be liable because no one else is on the account and I was not 19 when I originally started my account and signed all of the papers. So I could just go on a big shopping spree!(I don't think I'd do that, because it would be dishonest, and they'd probably find some way to ruin my credit, but it was a risk on their part, and they knew my birthdate. It is annoying to find other banks won't take that risk.)After going over to ComFed to deposit my check there (begrudgingly--though the teller was so sweet), I withdrew some funds, and happily I went to Baker's grocery store. I picked up a 24-pack of waters, a Mango Madness Snapple, a "Chicken Enchilada Suizo" Lean Cuisine, some "lite" Dannon Strawberry yogurt that was on sale, and some cheap protein bar that was supposedly "Caramel Apple" in flavor. You know, trying to eat a healthy lunch until I buy groceries tonight to make my own lunches. I was afraid to buy more than one of any of the above, because I might not like them.Sure enough. With the exception of the Canadian Spring Water (everything Canadian tastes better *winks*), gross. The Snapple was okay (won't bother with that flavor again though). I neglected to read the details of the Lean Cuisine (and of course I don't know Spanish), so I didn't realize that the "suizo" apparently means something to do with being sour cream-based. I generally dislike sour cream in anything you can taste it in. It was gross. The protein bar was like a big chunk of chewy bland material that had a spattering of some wax-looking material on top (which was supposed to faintly taste of Caramel Apple). I had to force myself to swallow it through all the gagging. I knew it was good for me. The yogurt is nearly tasteless. So that was my delicious lunch. I snuck a few Wheatables that a coworker had brought in.I was playing with the haiku generator.. got this pretty awesome one amongst many nonsensical haiku.LiveJournal Haiku!Your name:ibradYour haiku:am starting to readyour crap but it is hard toglance away from itUsername: Created by GrahameSo my friend xpurple has inspired me to do an audio (blog) post. I just have to stop being paranoid and insecure and give it a try. Though I don't think I could ever possibly be as hilarious or interesting as comes naturally to dear Tom--I am going to make one. A few of my other great friends have done audio posts (besides xpurple, I can think of mart, realmac, iworshipsatin SORT OF, I'm thinking maybe vorpal and underthebridge too? who else?!), and I'm all about mixing it up. So maybe I'll try later tonight with my internal mic. Any ideas for topics? Any questions you'd like me to answer? :) (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
9:00 pm	heavy duty breaker not included I made meself a new icon, for when I am posting at work. I really just wanted to make another icon, but I'm saying it is for use while I am making work posts. I actually already had an icon described as "work," and it was a picture of me in my old Sears shirt, so you know how old that one is. Anyhow, I'm going to try to remember to use it.*flaunts his permanent user 15 icons*Shocking as it might seem to all of you, the icon is not me. If you know what it is from, you get a cookie. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
5:50 pm	curious digital cable box, and a new icon I went to go watch the morning news, and the digital cable box started flashing all kinds of crazy numbers and lights, then I try to turn it off and it starts turning itself on and off every few seconds. There was no way to stop it short of unplugging it. How odd. I have a feeling they may have shut that service off, it is far past the middle of the month. Cable internet seems to still be working, but who knows for how long.So, I figured I might as well upload my new user icon that I put together. I'd say that I made it, but I didn't really. Slightly modified video capture, resized and cropped, color modified, 1px border and text added. I didn't want it to be completely unoriginal, or as easily stolen as my yip-yips have proven to be. Then, I shouldn't feel guilty because 75% of LiveJournal uses user icons that aren't their own. (Which kind of annoys me.. especially if you have a paid account, and all 10 or 12 pictures are anime or something. It's wasteful, get a picture of you up there... But that is a rant for another day.)So who remembers the teeny little super guy?! From Sesame Street?! Episodes that didn't have the TLSG, the YYAs (Yip Yip Aliens), Cecille, or at least the dancing pigs, used to make me mad.. I loved those guys so much when I was little. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 26th, 2009
3:55 pm	a whole entry about laundry detergents, prepare yourselves Laundry detergent is not an exception to the rule of "You get what you pay for." You might think that most all soaps clean the same, and they probably do; all of this talk of releasing dirt and powering away grease or grass stains is mainly hype. You can't always get the stains out, but you can if you are lucky and do it right, pretty much regardless of what detergent you may use. However, the real selling point as far as I am concerned, is fragrance. Let me tell you why. I bought a huge jug of no-name laundry detergent at Wal-Mart the other day. It seemed to smell acceptable when I opened the bottle and took a hurried whiff of the concentrated form. Plus it was $2-3-4 more in price than other detergents (e.g. Gain, Tide, or Oxydol, respectively), so it was a deal that I couldn't pass up, and I honestly thought these savings would benefit me. I don't need oxygen action, and I sort my clothes so I don't need color protection, or any of that other bs.I got home and started to do some laundry; starting the water filling the tub of the washing machine, pouring in a cupful of the detergent. Then I notice a foul stench that I imagine can only be described as Wet Dog or maybe Sewer Fresh. I reexamine the label to make sure that I got the correct scent. No, not what I was expecting, "Original Scent." Well, not exactly descriptive, I can't argue with that. I have never had the displeasure of smelling any cleaning product this foul ever before. The bottle of it is so big, and I am so tight, that I cannot bear to throw it away and go buy new detergent, so instead I use twice as much fabric softener just to foster clean clothes with a pleasant odor. And thank goodness for dryer sheets. Almost a week later, it still smells nasty when I use it.Needless to say I'll be going back to something else. I really liked Gain's Tropical Island scent, it was very faint and not feminine, and the price was not exorbitant.. not to mention the packaging has really garish and distracting colors all over it (possibly the biggest selling point). I don't know how I can make this journal entry more domestic, though a poll about laundry would be a great start. Here's an lj-poll about laundry, detergent, and softener in case you are really bored and enjoy statistics like me. Poll #170741 laundry Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllYou wash your clothes: (check all that apply) View AnswersExclusively 4 (28.6%)Usually 4 (28.6%)Some of the time 4 (28.6%)Rarely 0 (0.0%)Never 1 (7.1%)Only when the maid is on vacation 2 (14.3%)Always, all of my clothes, and the rest of my family's clothes, and friend's clothes, and.. 2 (14.3%)Happily 5 (35.7%)Apathetically 3 (21.4%)Begrudgingly 4 (28.6%) (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 24th, 2009
9:44 am	wong.ulo.us, laundry backup I changed the design of wong.ulo.us a bit (my newest project), got Movable Type and gallery working and installed, had some CSS fun, played with templates, and then got gallery integrated with MT's templating system. Two different templating systems for each but always an interesting solution. I am going to use Movable Type's integrated templating to add design continuity and dynamic MT blog information to every page on the site. Despite the static template-editing interface, this is already contributing to easier web-based code-editing. Anyhow, now I've just been tweaking things and waxing philosophical about content and demand (or lack thereof). Some IE 6 users were complaining about horizontal scrollbars, and I realized why that was happening and made a more elegant CSS fix. I have yet to make all of the templates for the lesser- and never-used MT/gallery documents, make the junk/linkage/contact areas, and go through all of the HTML/XHTML/CSS with a fine-toothed comb (and feebly attempt to get it to validate). It has been so long since I have done anything of this nature, I feel strange talking about it. So, as usual, I want to know what the website feels like to you, if it works okay, and if anyone has any suggestions! You can even go comment on the site itself if you wish.It's all a work in progress.I am really thankful for the opportunity to have a great webhost and fitting subdomain for it. I haven't really had a working/reliable/updated personal website in a long time. My old brad.digistatic.net website is long gone, I never used or renewed any bradbower.* domain, my .Mac homepage is practically useless, and I had some troubles getting things to work on ibrad.net, and then began to wonder if the ubiquity of my @ibrad.net email addresses would lead to issues with privacy if I were to put too much on ibrad.net. Though I am still thinking of what I can do with ibrad.net. I want this new website to represent some of the nicer things in personal/vanity/blog websites today. I want it to be something that at least gets close to being finished, and I want to use it. I don't know yet how or how much I'll be using the MT blog to supplant this LiveJournal, but I don't think I could ever abandon LJ. I just want it to be a fun personal website that works and where I can try out things like MT, gallery, php-iCal, etc. I'm thinking that I would like for it to be more for my online persona and goings-on, hence the "wongulous," my AIM screenname for the uninitiated. However, just linking to it here, using my name therein, and telling a few friends about it has already caused its purpose to surpass that, so it will be some other strange breed of website. More to come regarding thoughts on privacy.(Note: forgot to post the preceding entry portion last night.)Ugh.. what a way to start the day. I was washing laundry this morning and I let it go for too long without checking, so I ran downstairs to find several inches of water in the laundry room/basement. Something is backed up. I don't really know what to do about all the water.. I am taking a break for a second to see if it is going to drain, and try to figure out what to do. Before I start carrying buckets of water out/around, I'm going to try plunging and using the pipe snake, but I hope icky things don't come up, because I don't know where any of my old irrigation boots are.. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
7:46 am	OMG, fate So I get really annoyed at things generally being uncooperative with my attempts to make progress on my new website (check out the cool URL--thanks Steve! :), and I went crazy and went to look for something to drink.. and the house was ALL OUT OF POP. We're talking about a complete carbonated beverage emergency, folks. Plus I needed to do some of my grocery shopping anyway, so I decided to head down Saddlecreek to the Baker's that is open 24 hours, by Leavenworth.I walk around the store a few times, getting the things I need, and a few things to replenish the store, and when I am about to leave I realize that I should get some lettuce. I push the cart back to the opposite side of the store where the produce is located, and as I am approaching the end of the aisle abutting the produce, I see a girl in a grey college sweatshirt with familiar brown wavy shoulder-length hair, talking on a cell phone. No, it couldn't be.. could it? Her? I'll just swing over to across from where she is examining bananas to get a closer look, and maybe cough to get her attention, or drop something.But I didn't even get close before she turned around and her eyes lit up. "OMG!" "Catie Williams?!" "Brad Bower?!" and so on, so forth. This is the totally hot and adorable Catie that I worked with at Sears for a couple of months, helped train, got really close with, told a lot of things to, became friends with, and then left when I quit Sears. We caught up on everything.. we talked about how I left Sears, and the hardware department, how she left Sears, why, and previous coworkers, how they left Sears. Turns out the poor girl got fired along with other coworkers for silly things like ringing sales for others. We caught up on all of that, and where we each work now, talked about a mutual friend from APAC (Stacey), exchanged cellphone numbers, showed off cellphones (me with my 7135 palm phone and she showed me her Panasonic GU87 camera phone.. not too shabby), and then just chatted some more about life. It was so hilarious and refreshing and not as hard as I thought, or negative at all. I was glad to see her and know she is doing well. Turns out her and a guy from work that I had kinda set up went out for a year, and then broke up, and then he got shot at and moved to Des Moines, haha! What a crazy world. But after half an hour of chit-chatting at midnight in the produce section, we each had to get going.That was just amazing. It's odd to think of all the things leading up to that experience that could have easily not happened or that I could have just done nothing about and ignored, never leading me to see her for maybe the rest of my life (who knows). Wow. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
3:54 am	sold a camera, paid a bill, did something mean I was able to sell my Veo VGA SD slot camera for my Palm, without even putting it on eBay. Hooray. I am going to pack it up and ship it out so that I can just drop it off tomorrow Priority Mail. I only got $50+shipping for it, which is a little over half of what I paid for it, but then it really was a cheap, silly little toy so it is barely worth that in the first place, and at least I got something. I only used it like 4 or 5 times to take pictures, never even could get them downloaded, carried it on my key ring for a whole day and realized it was stupid.So today I went down to pay the MUD bill with my Mom, this is downtown at the main MUD building and payment office. I go inside and try to pay the bill, but the bitch tells me that they aren't going to take credit or debit cards, and to go to the ATM down the street somewhere. "Is it a Commercial Federal ATM?" I ask her. She doesn't know, but advises me that, "maybe you should go to your bank and get cash before you come to pay the bills. I can help who is next."Sure enough, it is not a Com-Fed ATM down the street. So we drive around looking for one, no such luck. We ended up driving all the way down to one in South Omaha. We pulled up to the ATM, and then I told my mom to park because I am going in the bank. I went inside and asked for $300, in one dollar bills, very politely. I expected them to charge me, but no, and they were so courteous. (Just when I get tired of this bank they get all nice with me, argh!) So once she hands me the pile in a neat little plastic bag (about 4-5" thick!), I thank the teller and we go back to MUD. Now, I tried to wait for the same snitty old hag who ushered me out previously, but some other one really wanted me to come over, so I did. I handed her the bill, and then laid down the bag. She made some remark about how "It's not very nice to bring in money like this." So then I explained to her that I wasn't treated very nicely either, and because they can't accept credit/debit cards there like everyone else in this century, or like the OPPD/MUD payment centers inside of a couple of grocery stores can, and wasted my time coming in, ushered me out, and I had to go waste more of my time finding my bank so I wouldn't have to pay foreign ATM fees, and then driving back here, I was going to waste their time too. I told her that maybe she should relay the message to her manager that she had to waste her time counting money instead of swiping a happy customer's card! So she counted the money with her little attitude, threw my change on the counter, and told me to have a nice day while rolling her eyes. So that was mean of me, but they wasted my time, and hey, at least I paid the bill! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
1:36 am	any advice? I cant imagine talking to someone. Sometimes I look at what I am doing and how I am living and how I think about myself and how I relate to other people and I think that I need help. Sometimes I just cry. I dont know what I am supposed to do. I am too embarrassed to talk to a shrink. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 19th, 2009
10:50 pm	psa Spammers, I dont want you to think that I am starting to read your crap, but it is hard to glance away from the first message I select when selecting multiple messages to categorize as junk in my junk email filter I am training, before I delete them. But this one I did see, and from what I saw it was so kerrrazzy I just had to read it. The more I read, the better it got. And so I have to share it with everyone as a prime example of this is your brain on drugs, unsolicited advertisement version. At least I think this is an advertisement. Someone enlighten me.From: pearson@deutschland.deDate: Sat Aug 2, 2003 12:10:38 AM US/CentralTo: ibookhooo@mac.com, ibookuser009@mac.com, ibot1@mac.com, ibowser@mac.com, ibrad@mac.com, ibrahim_bittar@mac.com, ibugz@mac.com, icallaway@mac.com, icalzone@mac.comSubject: Dimensional Warp Generator Needed awtinheufx wnmhmoHello,Im a time traveler stuck here in 2003. Upon arriving here my dimensional warp generator stopped working. I trusted a company here by the name of LLC Lasers to repair my Generation 3 52 4350A watch unit, and they fled on me. I am going to need a new DWG unit, prefereably the rechargeable AMD wrist watch model with the GRC79 induction motor, four I80200 warp stabilizers, 512GB of SRAM and the menu driven GUI with front panel XID display.I will take whatever model you have in stock, as long as its received certification for being safe on carbon based life forms.In terms of payment:I dont have any Galactic Credits left. Payment can be made in platinum gold or 2003 currency upon safe delivery of unit.Please transport unit in either a brown paper bag or box to below coordinates on Monday July 28th at (exactly 3:00pm) Eastern Standard Time on the dot. A few minutes prior will be ok, but it cannot be after. If you miss this timeframe please email me.Latitude N 42.48018 & Longitude W 071.15503 and the Elevation is 96.WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRANSPORT ITEM BY REGULAR MEANS OF TELEPORTATION. THEY ARE MONITORING AND WILL REDIRECT THE SIGNAL!!I DO NOT CARE HOW YOU HAVE TO GET IT HERE, JUST DO IT IN A WAY THAT NO SPYING EYES WILL POSSIBLY BE ABLE TO REDIRECT THE TRANSFERENCE. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU BE ABLE TO MONITOR THE TRANSFER.Although those coordinates are a secure guarded area, these channels through email are never secure. Unfortunately it is the only form of communication I have right now.After unit has been sent please email me at: info@federalfundingprogram.comwith payment instructions. Do not reply directly back to this email.Thank YouleafiivbeNow what the hell am I supposed to bring him, and where?! (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
7:43 pm	my 4,689th meme Since everyone else in LJ-dom seems to be doing this, even though I swear I have done it before but just can't remember, here. I want you to ask me a question, and I'll answer it within a few days. Ask me anything, don't be worried. You can't offend me. I'd be glad to tell you something if you really want to know. Not that I think there is much more people want to know about this sad, Nebraskan geek, but, eh. :)Poll #157017 question Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: NoneAsk me anything. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 17th, 2009
4:12 pm	ooh, denied! Hello, gentle reader. With regret, I admit this will be my last public post for a while. My future posts will be done in friends-only or friends-filtered modes, so make sure youve logged in. Ive auto-converted all of my public entries (historic) to a special custom security group level (with all of my friends), due to aforementioned security issues. If you have any problems viewing my entries, or notice any strange bugs, or even if there was anything public that you would like me to change back, please comment/email/IM me, Id be glad to fix things.But! Considering the nature of the change, now Ill be loading up my friends list more than ever in an effort to find other LiveJournalists to share and commiserate with, so dont be discouraged if this is all you can see of my journal. Im at least slightly more interesting than this public drivel, I swear. :) Drop me a line, plenty of contact info in (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
8:54 am	skipping to the sensible dinner On a whim, my last trip to the grocery store left me with a six-pack of Slim-Fast in my cart. Who knows why I chose Strawberries and Cream, but I wish I hadnt. It is really, really disgusting. I tried to drink it from the can, that wasnt working for me. I poured it into a regular glass, I could not stomache it. I tried it really cold, that didnt help. I keep seeing the poor, lonely box sitting in the pantry, and I knew that if I didnt ever try to drink one, they would never get drunk. I forced myself to drink an entire cans worth of the pink stuff, during which I could not help from gagging, and I was left with a disgusting feeling, so I relieved myself hunched on top of the toilet. I wonder if this is how people lose weight by drinking it. Regardless, I learned my lessons: just because it looks good does not mean it will taste good, eating healthy is not always easy, and you cant chug Slim-Fast.At least it comes up smooth.(Update 7/02/03: Why is this public? Who knows, because it got eaten by the conversion, and in the course of restoring it from an archive I decided that no one should unknowingly be subjected to Strawberries and Cream Slim-Fast! Five cans still sit in the box, tucked away in our cupboard.) (Comment on this)