Introductory Vlog

This is my very first attempt at making a video log or vlog.  At first I tried to upload the video to Blogger, but the size was small and the resolution seemed crappy.  So I uploaded it to YouTube and inserted it instead.  Trial and error I guess.  We'll see where it goes from here.

How Bad do you Want It?

My friend/co-worker/workout partner Chris said this phrase to me once - "It all depends on how badly you want it".  I don't even remember what we were talking about - probably about making time to go to the gym, which him and I typically do several mornings per week.  I can't recall for certain though.

I've been thinking about that phrase a lot lately though.  Amanda and I are planning on taking a cruise some time this summer, and if I'm going to be in a bathing suit a lot, then I would love to feel and look really fit.  Granted, my abs haven't completely disappeared (I'm still in pretty good shape), but they're not cut like they used to be either.

At my age though, how difficult would it be to get rid of that extra few pounds/layers that are hiding my stomach muscles?  I recently read (is it really reading though if you're mainly looking at pictures?) a post on The Chive called "Actors Who Went Overboard".  One of the more dramatic examples is picture #10, of Christian Bale (see below).

The caption below the picture reads:

Christian Bale lived on an apple a day to prepare for his “svelte” role in The Machinist and then put on 100 pounds of muscle to play Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins

I couldn't help but think - how badly must you "want it" to live on an apple a day?  How badly then do I "want it" if I can't forgo the garlic bread that accompanies the pasta-laden soup for dinner?  Or what about that piece of cake?  How badly do I really want those abs - enough to skip dessert?

That's the big question about any other goal too - how badly do I want that degree, that raise, to play that instrument, to learn another language, to grow closer to God, etc.

I know that being goal driven isn't the only thing in life, and sometimes it can be more harmful than beneficial (if you"want it", whatever the goal is, so badly that you're sacrificing the relationships with your loved ones, for example).  But if you find yourself falling short of whatever goals you are hoping to accomplish, then try asking yourself that question the next time you face an obstacle or stumbling block:

"How bad do you want it?"

The Joys of the Gym

One of the many things I enjoy about working for GE is the benefit of their nearby gym.  At $15/month, the facility and equipment aren't anywhere near as impressive as Gold's or LA Fitness, but they have all the equipment I need, they're rarely crowded in the mornings (I try to get there around 6:30am), and the building is less than a mile from my desk.

Like any gym, there is a wide variety of people you’ll see there, but lately I've been finding myself observing the oddities of humanity more than usual.  This provide a mixture of amusement, amazement, annoyance, and sometimes disgust.  Some examples of the things I've seen recently are:

• I typically go to the same locker area, mostly out of habit.  But if my usual area of the locker room happens to be crowded, or even if there are just one or two guys in the vicinity, I’ll shift to a different one.  Most of the lockers are empty in the morning anyway, so there are hundreds of options to choose from.  Similar to the shower though, it still surprises me when a man walks in a virtually empty and spacious locker room, then just has to go to his usual locker, which is right next to or just across from mine.
  
• My work out partner actually found toe nail clippings on the floor in front of the lockers.  What kind of man would think that this is acceptable behavior?  If I were to see someone in the act of doing this, I would have a really hard time not saying something to him.
  
• Sure, aftershaves and/or body sprays often provide decent aromas, but when the entire locker room is gagging from the overpowering stench, how can you not tell that you've used too much?  I mean, how can someone’s sense of smell be that bad, that they would need to use an entire bottle in order to tell that it’s enough for one day?  I feel bad for anyone who is working next to him, or even in the same building.

After using the gym in the morning, I always take a shower before heading to work.  That’s provided some interesting fodder as well, including:

• There are 18 separate enclosed shower stalls (w/a curtain as the door).  Since a lot fewer people go to the gym in the morning than any other time of day, there aren't too many stalls being occupied when I shower (2-3 at a time maybe).  Why then, when I’m taking a shower, must a man pick the stall directly next to mine?  This may sound a little extreme, but it kinda grosses me out to know that some guy’s shower water could be running down his naked body then splashing on me from under the gap at the bottom of the partition.  If enough shower stalls are available, then can’t you just leave a gap between us?
  
• I have seasonal allergies (for a week or two each in the fall and spring), so I know how it can be when your nose and/or lungs are struggling with the blockage that sometimes accompanies these times of year.  I also know how working out can help clear some of this blockage (force the cardiovascular system to expand and open up).  But do you have to spit your cleared blockages on the shower floor?
  
• My co-worker/workout partner Chris noticed some of the shower stalls have boogers smeared on the walls.
  
• I once found a used band-aid in the shower’s soap dish.  Luckily I didn't see any blood or puss on it, but even still…
  
• There is an odd looking man with very fair skin and gray hair.  He’s tall and slightly overweight, (but not obese).  He has a nasally voice and does not look like he has a single hair on his face or his entire body.  How do I know this?  Because he often stands in the locker room air drying for an extended period of time.  Sometimes he shakes his hips with his towel waving in the air behind him, like he’s trying to dry his backside.  But he’s not really trying to dry off – it’s just a sickening show.  I thought to myself “am I being too judgmental?”  But I asked my workout partner about it, and he laughed and exclaimed “Yeah, of course I noticed, and I hate that!”
  
  A few weeks ago when I got out of the shower he was doing his usual thing in the locker room aisle, but this time he was standing on one foot and had the other one propped up on the front of a standing fan, so that the fan can blow on his little pink, bald junk.  I couldn't take it anymore and said “Come on!  Really?!”  He looked over at me.  “Do you really have to prop your foot up and dry your balls off in front of everyone?”  He stepped down and responded guiltily “I’m um, drying my toes.  Have you ever had athletes foot?”  “Yeah, I have.”  I replied, calling his bluff.
  
  I didn't see him in the locker room for a number of weeks after that.  I wasn't trying to be a bully, but blatantly airing your manhood for way more time than necessary is just gross and inconsiderate of everyone else around you.

The Mind or the Multitasking - ADHD version of "The Chicken or the Egg"

I read an article last week (see link) that talked about the negative effects of multitasking on the human brain.

Unfortunately for me though, my current job requires multitasking, to a large extent.  I have somewhere between six and ten tasks to accomplish at any given time, and the urgency of a particular task varies based on external events and who is making the request.  Often times I find that just when I start to focus on a specific task I get interrupted by a new request or question about the product I'm responsible for, or something related to it.  If not that, then it's a co-worker discussion around me, a phone call from my wife, or a random email.  Most of the time this doesn't bother me much - I'm pretty used to it and it keeps me from getting bored.

Lately though, I feel like I've been having a harder time staying focused on just one work task.  At home too, I have so many projects and things to get done that I find myself often challenged to decide which one to work on and then once I'm engaged it's not uncommon for me to get distracted by someone or by another priority that I want/need to make progress on.  I even had a hard time the other day sitting down to read the Bible and write in my journal, as I was thinking about various reasons to get up and get other things done.  I don't recall having this problem nearly as much before though, and after reading the article I couldn't help but wonder if maybe my brain has been adapting to the continuous multitasking that work and/or life has required of me.

Younger generations probably have it even worse, since they are inundated with multimedia and multitasking for the majority of their life. I know there are other factors to consider, but how much impact does this have on the increased diagnosis of mental disorders such as ADHD.  I'm not the only one to notice this coincidence either.

So how should we address this modern problem then?  If our minds are being forced to adapt to constantly switching between tasks and doing multiple things at once, then would it help to force ourselves to at least periodically and purposefully pursue behavior to combat this?  Here are some ideas of activities for this:

• Meditation
• Prolonged prayer (including not just talking, but also listening)
• Writing
• Turning off multimedia

Maybe I'm mistaken though, and it's all just genetic.  And perhaps the only thing that will help an excessively restless mind is to keep it engaged, active, and/or medicated.  I can't help but want to err on the side of discipline, determination, and deliberate behavioral modification though.

SNL = Sex Centered Comedy?

Last night Amanda and I watched SNL for the first time in years.  The latest episode I could find online was from March 9, 2013, hosted by Justin Timberlake.  The first skit was funny and revolved around him hosting the show for the 5th time.  From there though, all but one of the skits were centered around sex. 

Now I like sex as much as the next guy, and I think I'm pretty far from a prude.  I don't mind hearing a sex-related joke or watching a skit about it either.  But when the majority of the material you can come up with revolves around or involves explicit sexual content, isn't that a little ridiculous?  Here's a list of the skits and their topics:

1. The Five Timers Club - solid and funny, including appearances from many beloved hosts and cast members
2. Romantic Comedy - a mock movie trailer centered around a man's relationship with a transgendered woman (she had a shlong).
3. Weekend Update - funny and mostly non-sexual, but featured an annoying flamboyantly gay character named Stefon about halfway through though.
4. It's a Date - dating show where contestants compete for the bachelorette.  It centered around sex and ended with the contestants joking about having a fivesome.
5. Tales of Sober Caligula - talked about orgies, sex with various animals, etc. 
6. Maine Justice - mildly humorous, and surprisingly non-sexual.
7. NuvaBling - spoof ad of the Nuva Ring contraceptive ring = birth control for glam girls.
8. Moet & Chandon Ad - featured former porn starts selling perfume.  Funny, but primarily about sex again.

There you have it, 5.5 out of the 8 skits either talked about or were completely centered around sexual content, mostly explicit and/or perverse.  I can't help but wonder if that says something about our culture.  Is it really that focused on sexuality and I just don't realize it as being that depraved? 

Since this was the first time watching SNL in many moons, perhaps this episode was abnormal.  I'll probably give them the benefit of the doubt and try it again (at least one more time).  But I'm starting to miss Mad TV more and more.

Creation Museum Critique

A couple weeks ago (Saturday 5/25) we went to The Creation Museum with a group of people from work and their families.  The tickets are normally pretty expensive, at $30 and $16 for adults and children respectively.  Thankfully, the group discount reduced these prices to $20 and $12.  Clara is younger than 5, so she was free. 

My first observation about the experience was that the displays and overall production was pretty top notch.  The place was clean and well maintained.  The layout flowed pretty well, and so did the traffic of the crowds.  Speaking of crowds, I was surprised by how many people were there.  It wasn't Disney World crowded, but still obviously well attended.

I also noticed that the Bible was quoted all over the place.  As a Christian I certainly don't mind this, but it gave the feeling that it was more Bible-centered than science centered.

The kids generally enjoyed the museum too, but at ages 8, 6, and 4 years old, they have pretty small attention spans for this kind of information.  This also made it tougher for me to read all of the displays and take enough time to understand all of the points that were being made.  Of the points and ideas I did get to see/read though, there were several in support the literal view of creation that I thought were made well, including:

• There are many assumptions made by evolutionists when interpreting the external physical appearance of skeletal fossil remains.  
• There are current examples of caverns, trenches, and canyons that have been formed rapidly (from geothermal, volcanic or other extreme forces).  Therefore, it's possible that other similar geographic formations could have been used to create many/all of the others that it's assumed were created by an alternate long, slow method that (such as by water flowing over millions of years).
• There is a big difference between Darwin's natural selection (which the museum creator(s) agree with) vs. evolution (which they do not).  

Two things that I would have liked to see more support for though were:

• A family tree from Adam and Eve to Jesus (an ex-co-worker of mine once made one himself), to help demonstrate how all human kind could have been the offspring of these two individuals.
• More convincing evidence or a better explanation of how so many cultures and appearances of people could branch from either Adam and Eve or Noah and his family.  For example, if they could show a few actual examples of several families that have drastically changed in appearance (skin color, eye shape, etc) over several generations.  They had one room that gave "The Tower of Babel" as the primary cause of the planetary variation in language and appearance.  But it still seemed pretty weak.

By the time we left, we had been there for several hours and still hadn't seen numerous exhibits, including one with dinosoars, another with insects, and also a planetareum. They still have plans to install an extensive zipline attraction (with numerous platforms and routes) too.  Overall, I had enjoyed the visit and was surprisingly impressed.    The food that we ate there for lunch was decent and acceptably priced too.  The non-group prices still seem high to me, but get a group of 15 or more people together and check it out!

Our group, before touring the museum.

The Meeting Minutes of Michael's Mind

A couple of months ago, I was in a long drawn out meeting at work. Since my participation in this meeting was minimal, I started daydreaming about this question"What would an ideal life look like to me, within the bounds of reality?" I then started making a list, of goals that could actually be achievable, even if they would be unlikely and/or overwhelmingly difficult. So here is is:

• Exercise 3-4 times/week consistently.
• Aside from my regular job, make some additional $ on the side somehow (make an invention and/or start my own business of some sort, etc.)
• Be able to afford having our house cleaned quarterly (take the stress of keeping up with it off of Amanda).
• No (or very few) house or car repairs to have to deal with myself.
• Enough $ to pay off debt sooner, and also do more fun things (with the family and on dates)
• Be motivated to read and learn more stuff for work. I am considering an accountability partner and/or creating a discussion group for this.
• Go on more dates with Amanda, preferably dressing up occasionally too.
• Spend 15 minutes/day with God (reading Bible, praying, etc.)
• For Amanda and me both to set aside 1 day/year spent with God (be alone with Him - just walking, thinking, praying, contemplating, listening, etc).
• To set aside at least 1 full day and night per year for just Amanda and myself to spend together.

Now all I have to do is win the lottery and cut out sleep from my schedule:-) Seriously though, is this list achievable? If not any time soon, then even in my lifetime? And if not in its entirety, then which items should I scale back or just give up on?

Maybe this exercise is pointless, but then again maybe setting these goals could help motivate me more to find a way to achieve them.

A Bowl of Rice is Twice as Nice

Last Saturday morning I was working in the side yard, when I realized the garbage can reeked pretty bad and there were a few flies buzzing around it too. I decided to move it to the curb, even though the garbage pick-up wasn't until Monday morning.

Finding a few flies making their way into the garage, I thought that maybe I should put the kitchen bag(s) into a big black yard bag to further seal up whatever was causing the stink. So I reached in and picked up the kitchen bag that was on top, but as I lifted it up the bottom dropped out of it, causing a cascade of maggots like a waterfall.

After reflexively and disgustedly dropping it back in and closing the lid, I noticed several of the despicable little critters making their way out of a hole at the bottom of the can, which you can see in the pictures below.

I thought about getting a picture of inside the can, but the thought of accidentally dropping the camera in there was nauseating enough that I'm pretty sure I would have just left it in there. Also, these pictures were taken after slaughtering as many escapees as I could by spraying them with bleach as they crawled away.


I walked into the kitchen to ask Amanda who she killed and why their cadaver is in our trash can. She explained that she had dumped three chicken carcasses into the kitchen can. While I was at first annoyed with her, after thinking about it I was pretty sure I had done the same thing numerous times myself. Like she said - we've never had a problem before.

I guess my mom had the right idea. She used to always wrap chicken carcasses in a separate plastic bag before putting it in the kitchen garbage, whereas Amanda and I have always just dumped it straight into the kitchen garbage.

Well, to avoid a plague of flies in our cul-de-sac, I then proceeded to wage war against the little rice worms. First I filled a spray bottle with bleach and emptied it into the can, along with dumping about a quart straight into it. The next morning I doused them with an entire can of Raid. I also sprayed them with bleach as they spread out in a semi-circle on the floor around the can.

I guess I eventually won the battle, since I staved off the swarm until the pick-up on Monday morning. But now my eye has a weird twitch.

Afterthought About the Workshop

As an afterthought to Public Speaking Performed:

After the workshop, I took the time to walk around the Sacramento State campus for a few minutes after the workshop. And I really liked the campus, which has an abundance of foliage and greenery. It also borders the American River and is adjacent to the American River Parkway trail.

But while I did like the campus, "Sacramento State" seems like a bit of a dumb name to me. Since Sacramento is actually a city, is it really supposed to be California State at Sacramento? If so, then you would think that the school's official web site would say that, but even their web site calls it Sacramento State. Hopefully there is a story or reason behind it.

Ooma Me!

I was talking with a co-worker when he gave me a ride home recently, when he mentioned this little gadget to me.

The idea is this: You pay for the hardware, which is $250 or less (we found it for $200 at Fry's). After that, you pay nothing more for your VOIP (voice over internet protocol) - ever!

Depending on how much you pay for your phone service, it could pay for itself in a few months.

We took the leap and hooked it up about a month ago. Since we're happy with its performance (it's not perfect, but usually close enough) we promptly canceled our phone and cable service. Since we only need to pay for a high speed internet connection now, we cut our monthly multimedia bill in half!

Voting, Web Page, Supercar

Amanda and I have officially voted, via absentee ballot.

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Last week I finally posted a picture update to our family web page and posted the link in my previous blog. Unfortunately our domain name registration expired at about the same time. So if anyone tried to look at the pictures before but the web site was down, I have re-registered it and the link should work now.

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I was surfing through the videos on Jay Leno's Garage tonight, when I came across his review of the SSC Ultimate Aero. While I was familiar with the car before, and I knew it was the world record top speed holder, I didn't know that it was made in America, and I didn't realize how awesome it looked and sounded until watching this video.

It has now officially surpassed the Pagani Zonda, Koenigsegg CCX, Bugati Veyron, and maybe even the mighty McClaren F1 as my favorite car.

For more information on this incredible vehicle, check out the links below.
http://www.shelbysupercars.com/
http://www.supercars.net/cars/3621.html

Routine Random Ramblings

I finally have some new pictures from several recent events posted on our family web page. You can check them out here: http://www.thelomonacofamily.com/pictures.html, under the "2008 Events" column.

I've been listening to a great series about spiritual warfare after another blogger recommended it. It's from a church in Seattle called Mars Hill, and it is some crazy stuff. Maybe it won't surprise you and maybe it will. Heck, maybe you won't believe the stories, but I for one do. http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/spiritual-warfare. Highly recommend.

This is an interesting commentary from Pat Buchanan about the media's double standard for politics: http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78921

I used to go daily to a website called Parents Behaving Badly. The stories are often horrific and it's not uncommon for me to get both angry and a little watery eyed when reading them. But besides depressing myself, I make it a point to pray for the people in each of the stories. Since they haven't had an update since June though, I started to go to Bad Breeders instead. Unfortunately, there has been no shortage of stories there lately. If you're a Christian reading this blog, I encourage you to check it out if you can stomach it (no gore, just sorrow), and pray for people (both the kids and the parents) in the stories.

Adam Sandler's new movie "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" was pretty funny, even if it did almost completely revolve around sex with old ladies and had entirely too much screen time of his naked arse.

Random Thoughts

When debating or discussing a topic, the goal isn't (or shouldn't be) to prove that you are right or wrong, especially since it's so unlikely that either side is going to change anyway. The goal is only for both parties to see and understand each other's side of the issue. If any fluctuations from original opinions do occur then it is just an added bonus.

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I have two speeds when getting ready in the morning (for work, church, etc)- slow and panic.

For some reason I always have this distorted view of how much time I have left to get ready. I look at the clock and say to myself "Oh, I still have twenty minutes. That's plenty of time to brush my teeth, shave, get dressed, pour my coffee, pluck my nose hairs, etc." Then at two minutes before I know I'm supposed to be out the door I am thinking "HOLY CRAP! I'M RUNNING LATE AGAIN! DAMNIT!" and running around like a madman.

Since I am aware of this retardation, you would think that I would simply correct for it and get on with my life. But while some days are better than others, it is for the most part a continuously reoccurring scenario.

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When observing someone doing something risky, there are two types of people:
1) Those that say "What an idiot! He could hurt himself and/or others."
2) Those that say "That's awesome! I want to try it!"

I am usually in the latter group.