Since then, 99.9% of my “print” (for some reason “text” just doesn’t seem like the correct term) media consumption has been online. I realized after I picked up my first new issue of PASTE how much accessing things through RSS and random web links has completely rewired my brain. Now, I can use the infinite resources of the Internet to best find/consume things that are truly of interest to me. Thumbing through a magazine requires me to be exposed to things that I may not already be aware of. And my mind was telling to me to turn the page, just as easily as it’d tell me to scroll passed an uninteresting item in my RSS aggregator.

It was rare that I ever read every bit of copy in any magazine. There were always things I skipped over. But back in the pre-everything-all-the-time-everywhere-Internet days, there was somehow more of an investment in picking up a magazine. It begged you to read the parts you weren’t immediately attracted to. Maybe simply because it was there. Or maybe simply because there wasn’t a whole slew of distractions (Twitter, Facebook, god knows what else) waiting to lead you away.

In my case, before my mind was assimilated into the Internet hive, there was at least a chance that I’d get exposed to something new while reading a magazine. And that’s a good thing. And it’s also something that I think is being lost with the decline in dead-tree publishing.

Anyway, I just noticed in the browser tab next to this one that I’ve got some unread items in my GooglesReader. I’d better go scroll through those before the count gets too high.

(Another cockatiel, her name is Poke, does some video bombing towards the end.)

Since the beginning of 2009, I’ve lost 25 pounds. And that achievement shouldn’t be downplayed. But I need to lose more. At the beginning of last year, I set a weight loss goal for myself. I started the year at 253 pounds. I wanted to get below 240 by my birthday (July 11th). I beat the deadline on that goal by almost a month. It was a big deal, because I knew that if I managed to get below 240, it meant I was doing something right, as all of my previous weight-loss attempts never passed the 240 mark. Right now, I’m at 228. And I’ve been at 228 for awhile. I’ve decided to give myself another goal. This time, I want to hit 220 by year’s end. It’s a reasonable goal, and I believe I can do it. I know what I need to aim for on a daily basis (1500 calories total). I just have to do it. And yesterday and today, I have! I made specific choices about my meals that helped me to keep my calorie counts low. Of course, these are things I’ve known about all along. But habits tend to control a lot of my behavior, especially when it comes to eating.

Breaking the cycle. It’s never easy.

Jen, enjoying a pina colada.

Ma with grandson (my nephew) Kyle.


Shannon, enjoying a Diet Pepsi and Amaretto.

Shannon and Jen played badminton. This is a really unusual thing for Jen to have been doing.

Lilo and Zaylee both got their Hawaiian on.

Chocolate raspberry cake. It was really good!

(A few more photos can be seen here.)

Im back from an unexpected hiatus. Been super busy lately writing, writing, and, oh, yeah.. writing. Was super tired and on extra allergy medication when I recorded this episode, in the wee hours of the morning. An alternate title for this episode could be : “Jen Babbles On”.

Got some excellent music for you to listen to!
* Loomis & The Lust , with a song called “A.D.D.”

You gotta check out the amazing video for the song “A.D.D.”:

* Piblokto with a song called “Vacant Vessel”

* Frank Falvo, with a song called “All Summer Long”

* Bedford , with a song called “Hot Summer”

* Craig Morrison, with a song called “Miss You”

* The Apple Brothers , with the song “Dirty Money”

* Full Circle , with the song “Never Again”

Podcasts mentioned in this episode:
* Blast FM
* Blast From The Past
A big “Thank You” to Judy, for introducing me to the music of Craig Morrison!

And, here’s the show:

After a while, they fall to the ground and spell out the name of a website.

This is NOT something Blizzard has put into the game. There are the actions of a gold selling website. I’m not going to name them, because I don’t want to give them any more attention then they have already attracted.

Anyway, if you see these floating, falling, spamming wizards in Stormwind, just ignore them. I’ve seen them on two servers now, and reported it. Blizzard is taking steps to fix this. If you see it on your server and are of the mind to report spam, click on the names of the individual characters, and the “report spam” thing. Or, just ignore their shenanigans entirely.

The situation with the health insurance options was only slightly better. Again, we were given a lot to read and consider.

We added some additional liability coverage to our car insurance, and kept the homeowners insurance the same.

I don’t know yet if we’ll wind up taking any of this new insurance. I haven’t seen all of the price quotes available. But the few I did catch during our meeting seemed beyond our financial means (especially for the health insurance). I’ll do some comparative shopping online before I make any decisions, and I’ll also have to see if our current insurance company can offer of us a discount if we keep everything with them.

Ultimately, of course, it all comes down to money. A topic that’s come up a lot lately on this blog.

Money. I need more of it. And really, the only ways to wind up with more money are to either earn more or spend less. I started reading some finance-related blogs awhile back to try and get some ideas on how to do these things. The popular refrain, often repeated, of these sites is, “Skip the lattes! Cut the cable (TV)! Pick up side jobs to earn more money!” Most of my “lattes” are of the ghetto variety, we haven’t had cable TV for as long as we’ve been in California, and I have managed to find some side work doing audio production. I’m not sure what else can be done in terms of cutting costs. I need to try and do more on the side-jobs front, and I have a few ideas to try and kick that into motion.

Unfortunately, focusing my energies in these pursuits takes away from other things I’d like to be doing. But, that’s life.