Blast From the Past

While browsing the net, I found this:




It totally reminded me of around the time we moved to the United States. It either came out right around the time we moved, or a few months before. Talk about a junior high back to the future moment.

Anyhow, you've probably noticed that the culinary blog hasn't been updated for a while. Don't worry, I'm working on it. I could use a little help with something though. As you can see in the blog, there's a little block that shows the ratings for the restaurant I reviewed. I'm looking for an easy way to make one of those tables and convert it into jpeg. If anyone has some tips, it would be much appreciated. My software options are limited to free open source programs like OpenOffice and GIMP (har har). Basically I just want to input the information, and have it spit out the jpeg for me (at a blogger-friendly resolution).

I started reading the Elenium series again. I read it before the mission, but I've forgotten most of it. There's a sequel series now, so I need to get myself up to speed in order to have the sequel make sense to me. I'm starting to run dry on my taste for sci-fi books though, thanks to my friend Ryan's corruption whenever we hang out at borders. Out of my friends, he reads the most (with Tom at a close second), and he always has these great literature recommendations for me, but I'm always reading some sci-fi book at the time (sound familiar dad?). Anyhow, after I'm done with these series, I'll get started on the Art of War by Sun Tzu which I didn't finish last time.

Just When I was laughing at Vista Users...

So my computer had a meltdown last night. Instead of giving you all the technical details and putting you all to sleep, I'm making this handy dandy imaginary conversation between me and my computer.

XP: Isn't this fun? It's been a while since we've played this game.
Me: Yup
Xp: You know what? I think I'll just go and die on you for no reason.
Me: What?? Why?
XP: *dies*
Me: NO! Come on! I didn't even make a backup of anything!! Maybe I can restart him
Comp: Nope, he's dead Jim
Me: fixboot?
Comp: nope
Me: Rewrite boot sector?
Comp: Not happening
Me: Repair install?
Comp: Think again
Me: Replace bad files?
Comp: I'm serious, XP is dead, you need to re-install him
Me: Not an option, nothing is backed up
*crickets chirping*
Comp: Well.....this is awkward
Me: Wait, what if I install Windows 2000 on another disk and access the files with that?
Comp: I dunno, try it
Me: *blows dust off ancient CD, installs 2000*
2000: Hi, I'm 2000, welcome to 1999!
Me: Oh geez, well lets get you up to speed here, XP here just died on me and I need help
2000: I can see that, may I recommend updating me first?
Me: Fine, but THEN we get to fixing this problem.

-Multiple updates/driver installs later-
2000: Hey I'm going to scan this drive for errors, ok?
Me: No! Don't touch anything! You're working just fine!
2000: I'm sorry, but you didn't press escape in time, scanning now!
Me: NO! Leave everything alone!!!!!
2000: See? I found some errors, now I'm going to start fixi..............*dies*
Me: What the!?
Comp: He's dead Jim
Me: What!? both XP and 2000 are dead now????
Comp: Well pretend you were in 2000's shoes, how would you feel if you were abandoned for over half a decade only to be brought out of retirement to fix your mess?
Me: You mean XP's mess
Comp: No, everything is your fault, bwahahaha!
Me: Listen here, I'm just about to go to Toms house, grab a big axe, then open you up and give you a reprogramming you'll never forget, are we clear?!*
Comp:.....
Me: Right, NOW GET 2000 BACK HERE!!!

-A reinstall goes by-
2000: Hi, I'm 2000, welcom to 19-
Me: Shut up! You're updated now, and you're going to help me, if you so much as dare to do anything that I explicitly haven't told you to do, I'm buying A MACINTOSH!!!
2000: You wouldn't....
Me: Try me..
2000: Oh hey! here are all the files you need, just burn a copy of this and you're ready to go!
Me: That's more like it.
Me: *repair installs XP again, this time with the RIGHT disc*
XP: Hi!
Me: How are you feeling?
XP: Not too good, you sure took your time
Me: You can blame gramps over there
2000: Hey!
XP: I can work now, but if I were you, I'd back everything up and re-install everything, otherwise, I just might die on you again!


That is the tale of my saga. It's also the reason I didn't get to bed until 3am

*Totally ripped off from Douglas Adams, may he rest in pieces

Gravity

So today I had an unexpected appointment with the wall. Somehow my crutch was caught in the carpet, making me fall forward and to the side a bit. I would've hit the ground if the wall hadn't been there to smear my face across. I started putting weight on the bad leg during all this, which made me totally relax that leg and try to send all the weight to the good leg. Needless to say, pain became the word of the day, but it subsided after an hour with the help of some pain killers. I purposefully throttled down my meds intake specifically for a situation like this when I really needed them. Forward thinking FTW :)

Today for my internet class I had to give a 3 minute eulogy about myself to some of my cousins. Man did it feel awkward, but I'm glad it's over, only 6 speeches to go :-\

At least I didn't fall like this guy


Reporter Owned By Sled - Watch more free videos

Bleh

Here's a tip everybody:

Don't take Lodine before going to bed on an empty stomach when you're not feeling well.

I think I went to sleep at 3am, but I don't remember. Actually, I don't remember much of last night at all. I haven't been feeling well (I'll spare the details). I woke up this morning after having some seriously trippy dreams. My head feels weird, my stomach doesn't feel good, and my motor skills aren't being very helpful today.

Next time I'll remember to eat something before taking those pills, or I just wont take them at all.

Music

I've noticed an interesting phenomenon in my life. Up until my mission, my taste in music leaned over more to stuff like Metallica, Breaking Benjamin, Linkin Park etc. It never went as far as stuff like Pantera, but a rocking guitar always put me a good mood. I still listen to that sort of thing, but only in one place, the gym. I always get kinda bored in the gym, so music like that tends to get the adrenaline going and it makes the workout seem much shorter.

Fast forward to after the mission. My friend Ryan introduced me to Sigur Ros, and ever since then, my music taste have done a 180, and now I listen to some of the most chill music I can find (my mom says it sounds depressing at times). For me, it does wonders to the stress levels as well as just leaving me in a good mood when it's over. Here are some examples:





I also listen to a lot more stuff like Radiohead now. This is one of my favorite/favourite songs from them: (I like the guitar later in the song)



Also, if you live in the US, I highly recommend you go to www.pandora.com . It's a great place to discover new music. If you don't live in the US, then this site will be blocked off for you. You can blame the record industry for that.

Advertising - The Bane of my Existence.

In an effort to get things going in the culinary blog, I've been selecting recipes from my culinary magazines etc. so I don't have to go fishing around at the last minute for a recipe. About 10 minutes into this, I realized just how maddening all the ads in the magazines are. I can't stand advertising in most forms. The only ads I like are ones that are clever, ones that make me think, or laugh. Here is an example:



See? That ad makes a person think. For those not in the know in International politics, the UN is really good at releasing statements, causing local scandals, and not much else. They've pledged support for Darfur, but haven't really done much. This post isn't intended to demean those who are providing humanitarian aid, but it's meant to point out that someone with half a brain should grow a pair and take action while that lunatic in Khartoum (sp?) lets genocide happen.

Anyhow, back on topic. Ads. I've spent a good few hours with a fine blade cutting out most of the ads from the Culinary magazines. Mind you, I'm leaving the ones alone that have useful info on the other side of the page. Now when I go through the magazines again (with marked areas I've selected to look at later), it's so much better and it even feels easier on the eyes. For a while now, I've installed an addon to Firefox called Ad Block Plus. Because of that addon, I haven't seen an ad on the internet for months, and I love it. I don't watch TV shows on the TV, I just wait for the DVD since I know I'm not going to see ads on the DVD. And when I'm driving, I just close my eyes on the highways so I won't see any billboards......okay not really, but if anyone knows how to get rid of those, I'm all ears :)

New Blog -->

This is just an fyi for the less observant, I decided to just start my culinary blog now. Its in the link list to the right, so enjoy.

Too bad I'm not a paid spokesman

Ok this isn't meant to be an ad or anything, but I have to give a shout out to 24-Hour Fitness here.

I've been a regular customer there for 2 years now, and I know a lot of the people there. Today was my first day back at the gym after the surgery, and I got a very warm welcome back from the people there. They all asked how everything went with the surgery, and one of the guys moved one of the exercise machines out in the open so that I could use it. They also kept the door open for me so I could go in and out (they don't have a handicapped button). So today has been a wonderful day and it was off to a great start thanks to 24.

I'm making steady progress in recovering. I should be signing up for an institute class soon so that I can spend more time out of the house and make good use of my time. 5 weeks and then I can ditch the crutches, I'm SO looking forward to it :)

I found this video on digg.com, I thought I would share to end off this post :)

Yays and Nays

Okay, there's good news and bad news in this post. The bad news isn't even all THAT bad, more like slightly frustrating.

Today I went to the doctor, who gave me the ok for driving! So naturally the first thing I did was get into my car the second I got home. The battery was dead, but after a jump start, I was back in action. I'm also able to put half my body weight on my left hip now. Let me tell you, it feels so WEIRD to use the bad leg now. The muscles have no idea what I want them to do, so they just kinda spaz out in different directions. It's a wonderful feeling to see some real progress now :)

The (almost) bad news is that the doctor has delayed my full weight bearing status by another 3 weeks, which means I can only try walking without the crutches in 6 weeks. Frustrating, but I'll survive.

In other news, I've decided that I'm going to start a second blog after I learn to walk again. It'll only involve culinary stuff, mainly experiments and how they turn out (with recipes), so until then, you'll all have to survive on whatever it is you all eat anyway. (that last part made more sense in my head..)

EDIT: And on a side note, I stood up today without the help of the crutches for the first time :)

Cane Idol

Ok I know a lot more of you read this blog than those who leave comments. In about 6 weeks, I'll hopefully be able to start learning to walk again. I'll probably still need some help getting around, but I'm getting sick of the crutches.

So here's the deal. I'm planning on getting a cane to use for a few weeks and I plan on keeping it for next year as well. The problem is that I don't know which cane to get. I saw a few on amazon.com that were not bad, but I couldn't pick one out of the choices there. So I'm open to suggestions, here are the rules.

50$ max, and if it's 50$, it had better be a nice one.
I can override whichever choice is most popular.
If you want to send me a suggestion, but don't have a blogger account, just e-mail or get me on facebook, or text me or something.
It needs to be long enough for someone (like me) who is 6'4"

Funny entries get bonus points :)