Taken at the Piscataway/HP zoo

Yesterday, complained about how social media has stopped people from blogging.  Blogging became secondary, and I want to say no, it should be primary.  I decided to see how I could crowd source a blog post using social media.  I took a “lolcat” picture at the local zoo, and asked everyone to caption it.  I got amazing results.  Turns out after a retweet, I got a lot more results than I ever expected.

Here are the results:

From Twitter: (In no particular order)
@jhaka: “Edna’s husband flies her south for winter; Larry here says its more economical if we stay north.”
@chrispoteet: “You think I look stupid?”
@superiorshoes: If you say Aflac one more time I’m gunna bust through this fence and kick your ass!
@playboyoncampus: – Got locked up for looking at chick porn
@Kungfucarlo: This is my good side, bitch
@Suaveinc: “Yeah, I’m lookin at you James Toney!

From Facebook:
Avrom: DUCK!
Mike: ‎”I’d really appreciate it if you wore pants more often.”
Nick: “You got the goods?”

While you may say, “That is all,” referring to the number of comments, that is a lot for me.  I don’t have that many followers, but 9 responses in less than 24 hours is not bad, for something completely random from my usual musings.

I believe everything he says there is true, and want to start adopting it.  I am working on a way to not cross post to egregiously.  I am tired of having people find me on facebook or twitter.  I want to be found online, here, at this blog.

That means I have to blog more.  Throw out the ideas that all entries must be meaningful and well researched.  Look past the meaningful, and realize that meaningless is sometimes the best.  Rant on the stupid, just because it gives an outlet.  140 characters shouldn’t be enough.  I am not saying spew nonsense, and clog up the internet, but if there is something that needs to be said, spend time saying it.

Remember a blog is your page.  You own it, you can take the data away with you, somewhere else.  Look at your social media site, and see if the same things is true.  Can you take your content, and those who follow it.  The answer is no.  Having a blog is yours.  You control the content, the readership, and the all important “What happens next.”

It is the toughest workout, I have ever done. It is the toughest workout, you will ever do, sans the army bootcamp experience. So what is it all about?  NOTE:  ASK YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE STARTING.  (Warning: Article is long)

The workout is a 60 day long experience, consisting of 13 different exercises.  The first phase, about 40 days, is 45 minutes or so per exercise, and the second phase, about 20 days, of 60 minute exercises.   You get one day off every week (Sunday on the calendar), and every Thursday is a “recovery day.”  The second principle is that it changes the paradigm of bursts of high intensity with lots of rest to the exact opposite.  The third principle is the diet, which is nothing special.  Eat 4 to 5 small meals of high protein, lower carb, lower fat, and less junk food.

Doctors Note:  When I say to see a doctor, I really mean it.  I didn’t, and if I did, he would have told me not to.  This isn’t some wii game, or 5 minute abs on tv.  This is really really tough.  This will kick you into the best shape of your life, but it will not be easy, and extremely painful.  You will probably throw up out of sheer exhaustion at least once if you do it right.

Phase 1:  Phase 1 consists of  6 different exercises that obviously alternate.  These exercises were quite fun.  Obviously, everyone has their favorite, including myself.  Most exercises had the same format.  A 10 minute warmup, 5 minute stretch, main exercise regiment, and a 3 minute cool down stretch.  The warmup was the worst part of the exercises because it is the most amount of time straight through without a rest.  The purpose, besides the obvious, is the raise your heart rate up.    The stretch was the most annoying part, until recently (I’ll explain later), because I didn’t see the point of all that stretching.  The main exercises were the most fun.

Phase 2: Phase 2 consists of 7 different exercises that also alternate.  There were 3 main exercises that I hated.  The hour long intensity was definitely the problem.  The extra 15 minutes made it really hard to work out.  There were also more double workout that caused more headaches.  The mindset is that you just spent 40 days working really hard, and if you are this far, you might as well finish.

So how did it go…

I started at around 283lbs.  I finished at 268 at my lowest.  A loss of 15 lbs is on the low side of mass lost, but still nothing to sneeze at.  The fit tests was the video’s main way of gauging how well you did, and I did well.  Unfortunately, the 4 subsequent fit tests were lost the day before the final fit test.  Based on my memory, I gained on 7 of 8 tests each time with an overall improvement of about 10% each time.  A 10% improvement each time on most exercises is nothing to sneer at.  Through phase 1, I was so happy to do the workout, that I as looking forward to it.  As phase 2 came along, I was sluggish, and not happy to go through the hour long workouts that I started them really late, and started slacking off because it was so hard.

The second note is how your lack of progress can only be seen through the fit test.  That means that when you have to do a certain exercise you can’t gauge how many you did.  You are supposed to go at 100% on your entire workout, therefore, I would usually fail at around 80% through the segment.  That started making me feel bad because I thought that I would fail, but after the first two weeks I was able to complete the warmup fully, and seen my segments improve from the previous workout.

Third note involves eating.  Since these workouts are tough, your appetite changes for the better. That candy bar makes yourself question whether you actually need all those calories.  If you follow the diet, you learn how to calculate how many total calories you need in a day.  You start to pay attention to calories, carbs, sugars, and fats.  You will learn to eat less. I promise you will, if you want to follow the program.  Adding your 8 – 10 cups of water a day also helps.

Fourth note involves weigh ins.  Insanity wants you to weigh and photograph yourself an certain intervals, mainly weigh in once a week, and photograph yourself, every 20 days.  I did not photograph myself, which in a way I regret.  My main goal of weight control is how well my pants fit.  As any fitness literature explains, weighing yourself everyday is psychologically  bad.  The ups and downs drive you crazy, which it did.  What I noticed is that I would fluctuate approximately 3lbs daily, and almost 5 lbs weekly.  Sunday I was the heaviest, mainly because I didn’t eat well over the weekend, and Thursday was my lightest day.  So Sunday to Thursday morning I lost weight, and gained it back over the weekend.  This may be an important item to note.

Fifth note involves motivation:  If you do not give 100% to the program, don’t bother.  I picked a time everyday, and stuck to it.  It didn’t matter where I was.  I took my laptop with me, and made sure I had the right video ready to go.  The hardest days were Saturdays.  I told my friends and family not to bother me between 5pm and 7:15pm.  That was my “gym time.”  I did a 45 minute slow cardio routine before mainly because I needed a better warmup.  I drove home, and went straight into the workouts.

During week three I got very sick, to the point I took a sick day from work (I never take days off from work).  The question that nobody could answer was whether to continue or stop and rest.  My answer was to continue.  Working as hard as you can was the mantra throughout the video, and to continue was the right answer.  The disheartening news was week three is when you start to see some results, and those four days I had to take it at 70% or so.  During the last week, I pulled my back.  That caused me to actually miss a day, and had to reshuffle workouts.  I don’t agree with reshuffling workouts.  It is a commitment, not a suggestion, so that really got me annoyed with myself, but otherwise I wouldn’t be able to complete it, and possibly hurt my back further.

Note on Stretching:  I never knew how important warmup, cooldown, and streching were until I went to a exercise routine without warming up and stretching.  The warmup brings you up slowly, which prevents injurys.  The streching, really prevents cramps, and muscle injury.  The cooldown, brings you back to reality slow enough that you don’t feel sluggish the rest of the day.  Take my advice from someone who always skipped those three parts, but, now, I will never skip them.

Note on Muscle Pain: After the first day you are in pain.  Not minor pain, but MAJOR PAIN.  Every muscle hurts.  Keep going.  Tell yourself that one week of this and you will feel infinitely better.  Forge through the next few days, take your aspirin, and work through the pain.  What I learned is that my shins, quads, and triceps were very weak.  Those muscle groups stopped me from doing more reps.

Final notes and errata:  The best way to complete insanity is to find a buddy.  Find a buddy and support group.  A buddy to do it with you (someone who doesn’t mind you with a shirt off).  Find a support group or blog to either journal, or read about others in your situation.  I didn’t have a buddy, but I had  blogs and a few friends who were a few days behind me.  It kept me going.  Be careful of the beach body blogs.  The “coaches” are usually people with 30 lbs or so to lose, and may not be the same body type as you.  They usually have an agenda (selling your the beach body shakes, and videos).  Try to find independent people:  My favorite blog throughout the workout was the Insanity: One Man’s Voice (new window) and his subsequent second go around at The Insanity Ward (pops)

What’s Next: I tried the other video series, and nothing compared to Insanity.  My only choice is to learn how to work out better at the gym, but more likely just start the program again.  I have the program, I might as well do it (better this time).

My iphone contract is up, and I have to decide on what to do.  Do I stick with apple and the iphone 4 or do I jump ship to android.  This was a no brainer until I heard about android 3.0 Gingerbread. Now I have an issue

My main issue is: is the hardware (android) going to support the software for the next two years?

On the apple side, they make software updates once a year.  Begrudgingly we accept the one year cycle.  The planned software launch with the appropriate hardware, but still make sure the immediate previous generation can handle it.

Original iphone: ios1, 2, 3 NOT 4
3g: ios 2, 3, parts of 4
3gs: ios 3, all of 4
4: ios 4

Apple, coincidental or not, (and in my opinion) sees that a device should last the duration of the contract.  Each phone for 2 years got all the upgrades.  Everyone wanted the cycle of android, but now I see the problem (with android).

Android updates now are going to have hardware requirements.  Gingerbread just brought specs of a 1ghz processor, 512 RAM, and 3.5 inch display.  That is some pretty hefty requirements.  All the phones for the foreseeable future just meet those specs (but don’t exceed it).  Even Google’s own nexus one, just meets those specs.  What is going to happen with android 3.1 (Hamentashan)?

It can be shown with the g1 that the phones can survive three updates (approximately 12 months at the going rate).  The g1 came out in October 2008, and is currently stuck on donut.  Donut was released Sept 2009.  The nexus one was released Jan 2010.  Since then we saw, Eclair (2.1), Froyo (2.2), and now Gingerbread (3.0) scheduled for released for the holiday season. With those steep hardware requirements, is that the 1 year life-cycle of the nexus 1? A 1 year software cycle (3 updates) for a 2 year contract.

So what does this have to do with me.  Well, I’m getting the Droid X.  I will get it the day after it comes out, to make sure I have the latest and greatest until the droid 2 comes out late august, and the Samsung Galaxy comes out a few weeks after that.  I’ve played the waiting game, and this is when I stop.  The question with this in mind is: Do I pay extra for the one year deal, or suck it up and go with two years? Do I gamble that I can make my phone last for two years (like my 3g did), or do I pay extra just in case it doesn’t?

This was forwarded to me, and it was so powerful, I needed to share it.

To The Honorable Chris Christie,

I am the enemy. I never realized this until your election to governor. In a few short weeks, you have made this fact explicitly clear to me. A large portion of your budget address was about my profession, and how we have caused the problems this state now faces. I want to thank you for opening my eyes to this fact. However, I am not sure I understand how I am the problem or how I have caused the state to be in such debt.

I have been teaching in our public school system for 9 years. I started at $36,000 a year. My college roommate started as an office worker at an accounting firm for $75,000. It was the same year. He told me he mostly made copies and plugged numbers into a computer. I was designing lesson plans, teaching classes of 30+ students, some of whom had problems with drug abuse, crime, and depression. After nine years experience I made $52,000 last year. I would like to point out that this is $8,000 less than your “media relations” person. You know, the 25 year old who runs your Twitter and Facebook accounts. My college roommate? He makes double what I do now. We both have bachelor’s degrees. But what do I know? I am the problem.

You tell the people of New Jersey that we teachers get a free ride on the pension “gravy train”. Well, I contribute to my pension. It has been deducted from every paycheck I have ever received. Thousands. You do not contribute to my pension even though it is legally and contractually required. You have lied to the people of New Jersey and your refusal to pay the pension just puts off the inevitable. Leave the problem for the next generation, I suppose. I also paid over $6,000 in property taxes. It’s convenient that you leave us to be blamed for property taxes when we pay just as much as everyone else. You and those who attack us seem to forget that. But what do I know? I am the problem.

During my time as a teacher, I have volunteered many late hours….volunteered. Although you seem to think all I care about is me, me, me, I have coached girl’s powder-puff football for nothing. I have chaperoned school dances, plays, and fundraisers. I have worked the concession stand at football games. I wasn’t paid for any of this. I have bought hundreds of dollars worth of shirts, cookie dough, pizzas and countless other items I didn’t really need because I wanted to help support my students and their activities. I have “canned” at football games to help needy students, stayed late waiting for parents to pick up kids who missed their busses, and bought classes pizzas and breakfast to reward them for their excellence. I cooked a class eggs and waffles once because they brought in over 500 canned goods for our local homeless shelter. I have been in a dunk tank not once, but twice to fundraise for my school. I have taken pies to the face and almost had to kiss a ram, all for my students. My coworker and I once organized a pancake breakfast for a student battling cancer. We and many of our colleagues whom you demean were at school at 4:30 in the morning to prepare pancakes for a school of over 2,000 students. We raised over ten thousand dollars for that student. I never asked once, “What is in it for me?”

You have declared open season on teachers. You have made us the bane of New Jersey’s existence. I know, I read the comments on the APP.com and Press of Atlantic City websites. Teachers are lazy, overpaid, underworked. We are whiners. I guess that is what I am doing right now. You have made it okay to bash us. Some of the public are rejoicing that my colleagues will lose their jobs. Until you opened my eyes and opened their mouths, I never realized what a terrible person I was.

When I decided to study education in college my mother warned me that I had better not teach unless it was a passion. She told me if I just wanted summers off I wouldn’t last. She was a teacher herself. She said I could get paid better doing other things. She told me my efforts would not be appreciated, that it was only a matter of time before politics made us the enemy again. I didn’t listen. Teaching was a calling for me, and I thought that even though I wouldn’t be paid a lot, at least I would have good benefits, a pension, and job security. What a fool I was. I thought I was doing the right thing, helping kids, improving society. Turns out the whole time I was none of these things. I was the enemy. I was the problem. My own government has forsaken me; my own community would like to banish me. For the first time in my career, I am questioning my decision, feeling my passion diminish.

Thank you for showing me the light. My only hope is that the next generation does not see the light, and does not listen to you, because if they do there will be no more problems like me, there will be no public education. You will have won your war against the middle and lower class. You will create a society where the rich get educated and the poor do not. But then again, what do I know? I am the problem.

Sincerely,
A 2007 Nominee for the Governor’s Teacher of the Year Award

Steven E Derion

Facebook is a social NETWORK, emphasis on Network.  Social is what you define as it.  Some people decide that it is the closest x number of friends, and goes all the way to, I will friend everyone in an attempt to show that I have more friends than you.  Where is the middle?  What is the policy that makes Facebook the most useful?

Facebook is the most important network currently because it is used by the most amount of people. Also with the most amount of members, it boasts 55% of users check in once a day. Each social network is different, but I want to focus on Facebook.  It has hit critical mass where it basically has become a verb, and when your brand name has become a verb that means something.  Twitter has its use, so does foursquare and gowalla.  Buzz is up and coming, but again, each has its niche market.  Facebook is ubiquitous.

I determine friends on facebook in the following:  Have I met you?  If the answer is yes, as in I have met you in person at least once, I want to be your friend.  I don’t expect you to reciprocate and accept, but why not?  You can edit your privacy to allow me to see nothing.  The reason for this is because I may need to contact you for whatever reason.  Instead of having to remember your name, finding you, and have to friend you, why can’t you just block me from seeing all information and still allow chat and messages?

Another idea to prove my point.  You usually don’t randomly meet people.  You generally meet people at events that you have some mutual connection to.  You are going to a party that someone invites you to, or you are going to an event that you have interest in.  There are idiots at each of these events, but the likely hood is much less because they have been pre-filtered by either the friend at the party, or the nature of the conference.

Take the opposite scenario.  You may want to contact me.  I, and you, can make the decision of “do I want to help,” at that time.

What have I missed?  How am I wrong?

newjerseynewsroom.com

Chris Cristie the other day announced that he found a way to cut the budget by 450 million dollars.  A collected round of applause whizzed through the Garden State.  All those applause came from people who did not read the article.

He did not cut 450 million dollars.  He told school boards they had to spend their surplus.  The same surplus schools had to create to carry them when federal and state didn’t pay on time.  Think about it another way.  Think about it as your department has a budget.  If you don’t spend all of it, corporate, will assume you don’t use it and cut it next year.  That is exactly what happened.

So schools who are fiscally responsible save money, and now they are getting penalized.  This is just like the banks who fail.  They gave all the people who shouldn’t own a house, a house, and then get bailed out.  Well the good schools are bailing out the government by getting robbed of their fiscal responsiveness.

But to say, that 450 million dollars was saved, is an outrageous lie.  It only shifts the responsibility to the school district.  Now all the school districts have to increase their budget, which makes them look fiscally irresponsible.  The average NJ Taxpayer will look at the school budget and say, “They are asking for way more money.  It must be their fault, and not Trenton.”  It makes the government look good rather than tackling the real problems.

The real problems lies in spending.  Cut the people with multiple pensions first.  Don’t cut the firefighters, police, and teachers.  They do nothing wrong.  Cut the Judge who sits on three different traffic courts collecting three different pensions, three different health benefits, and three different sets of perks.

Trenton should laud the school districts that do well, and force responsibility to those who don’t spend wisely.  Not steal from good budgets, and give to the deficit budgets.  Or… cut the same amount from each, rather than stager it.

I’m not getting paid well enough, in fact these budget cuts may cause me my job, so let the people who know deal with it.

My two cents.

You can get cable service for $30/month.  I know after the first year…. ($40 after that).  So you need to cut that bill to something more managable.  So let’s say you want the big networks (CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC, WB11), and let’s choose 8 cable channels (ESPN, TBS, TNT, Food Network, Bravo, CNN, and 2 more).  How much should that cost?  Well let’s figure on $3 a channel.  Just on those 8, that is $24, then we have to add for the piping in of the networks.  There is your $30.  At that point you might as well just pay for all 700 channels.  How much extra will HD cost?

The wholesale deal that the cable companies get is because they can guarantee millions of subscribers.  Now they won’t be able to.  So the bad networks like mtv4 will fail, but the good ones will start costing more.  Remember HBO is self sufficient at $20 dollars a month.

All this is simple math and economies of scale.  (I’m good at the math but not the economics).  The best way is to pressure @johnament to explain how his HTPC and external antennae works for watching TV.  For someone who has no cable he will see who will win the oscars tonight where I won’t.

Found at the wife’s office.  I just would like to say, thank you for clarifying what the mystery stuff on the carpet was.  I’m sure it took only a quarter of the time to fully attach the note onto the carpet than to clean it up (or call someone to clean it up).