musings

i just deleted my plaxo account. i received an email from them stating that synchronization with outlook would no longer be included in the plaxo basic package. from the email…

We’re making some changes to our service in the coming weeks. The Outlook Synchronization feature, which has been a free feature of our service, will now become part of Plaxo Premium, effective July 30, 2009. This change will allow us to continue to invest in the development and support of this valuable (but high-cost) feature.

Outlook Synchronization will join other “power address book” features in the updated Plaxo Premium, alongside the Contacts De-Duper, Automated Backup and Recovery, Unlimited eCards, and VIP Support.

To ease the transition, we’re offering all current users of the Plaxo Toolbar a 20% lifetime discount on Plaxo Premium. You can upgrade to Plaxo Premium for $47.95/year, a $12.00/year savings off the $59.95 annual subscription. Sign up now to lock in your discount.

i only used the service because – for free – i could sync my work computer (outlook on a pc) with google and google with my home computer (mac) and iphone. so much for that.

an email at work today and the best thing i’ve read all day…

If anyone is missing a peach diet Snapple from the fridge, I would be happy to pay for it. In grabbing my groceries last night, I accidentally knocked one off the shelf and it exploded all over the floor (and my feet, if it’s any consolation). Just let me know if you are Snappleless.

lyrics from the silversun pickups’ new album, swoon. i like the song, yet can’t seem to wrap my head around the lyrics. anyone have any ideas?

We are ready for the siege / We are armed up to the teeth / Be careful how you live and breathe / Release what’s broken underneath
How many times do you wanna die? / How many ways do you wanna die?
Do you feel safe again? Look over your shoulder / Very carefully look over your shoulder
We can laugh about it now / We hope everything works out / Be careful how you lick your wounds / Believe that change is coming soon
How many times do you wanna die? / How many ways do you wanna die?
Do you feel safe again? Look over your shoulder / Very carefully look over your shoulder
You used to do a little, but a little won’t fly / Right before you hit your prime / That’s when we fell in love, but not the first time
Can I please you still? / Remain in your father’s will / Or does it make you ill?
Let us bruise their knees / We went in straight for a defeat / You will be relieved
So relieved, so relieved to the flow, and desire / Bitter sparks to the friendly fire / Misery inspires
Your throwin’ me cuts several times before / Never noticed the size of the flow / Make it be ignored
Do you feel safe again? Look over your shoulder / Carefully look over your shoulder
You said you believe, but believing won’t fly / Right before you hit your prime / That’s when we fell in love, but not the first time
And when it’s all over and you open your eyes / You see the room turned on its side / And you’ll be lying down and over on the floor; signed,
The Royal We / The Royal We / The Royal We / The Royal We / The Royal We / The Royal We / The Royal We / The Royal We / Love The Royal We

i’m breaking my own rules with this post. my namesake once said, “Never complain, never explain”. good words, yet not words for today.

i’ve been blogging since 2003. it was a medium i easily fell into, as i could express myself on a public forum through words. i loved blogging. i was able to merge my web design hobby with my writing hobby. i could flesh out what i was thinking and being taught in my life on a website and in turn, my friends could respond.

then it got cool. (bud, you called it). everyone started blogging – news sites, churches, corporations, but unfortunately, not dave barry. i kept waiting for him to blog his column (which eventually happened). rss feeds were all the rave, and so easy to access. i didn’t have to go to every individual page to see if it had been updated because google reader happened. all of that information in one place, and it was glorious.

next came facebook. i really didn’t think it would catch on the way it has. i figured it’s popularity would be much more short–lived, like myspace. you could reconnect with people you haven’t seen in ten years. “oh, what happened to my childhood friend? he’s a race car driver in virginia now.”

yet we’re trespassing on information we were never really meant to know and becoming narcissists in the meantime. forty years ago without these technological aids, we would have just had to wonder. knowing kills the fantasy, and fantasy is an important ingredient in life. to know who your childhood friend became or that your favorite elementary school teacher isn’t as cool as you once thought – it kills the illusions of childhood.

we know too much, and what we don’t know is often only a few characters worth of typing away.

twitter followed and has continued to perpetuate this further. here are a few sample twitters from my current feed:

• is posting from the iphone
• getting a fabulous haircut!
• yoga, class, collapse.
• hmm. work. hmm.
• Just rediscovered Dr. Pepper, the one non-diet drink I really like. The office fridge is packed with them today. (We have free sodas.)

honestly, i don’t care that cameron strang has free sodas at relevant. that’s nice for him, yet knowing it does not enhance my life in any foreseeable way. nor do the other mentioned posts (note: from my own twitter feed) enrich the lives of others. that’s ten seconds of my life or other peoples lives that we can’t get back. now add up all of the time spent on useless information in a single day… in a month… in a year. mass accumulation.

now this is where it gets sticky. it’s not cameron strang’s fault or the fault of anyone else. it’s my own fault. i followed his blog, twitter, facebook, cetera.

one year ago, i changed my life. i bought a one-way ticket to hawai’i. i quit my job. i moved my life without any tangible plan for the future. i also stopped blogging. why?

because i haven’t had anything to say.

at some point, we have to live our lives without mediation. we need to stop being social hermits that communicate with the people we care about more through facebook than in person. this is not to say that technology or more specifically, social media, is a negative entity. it is a powerful entity whose power should be harnessed to enrich our lives, not dictate them. i, for one, allow the “DING!” from gmail notifier to pull me from my current activities or allow my iphone to command my attention when i should be holding hands with the handsome fellow sitting across from me far too often.

for me, it’s a two-fold issue. i stopped blogging because i didn’t have anything meaningful to say, yet kept reading (and being overwhelmed) by the incoming amounts of information. you have to make choices about what information bears importance. otherwise, it all just becomes detrimental noise.

my friend eric and i have recently discussed how we are educating ourselves into an inability to truly communicate. eric’s fear is that if he twitters – which to this date, he does not – he will cultivate his writing habits in a way that will be detrimental to his writing abilities, something which i have experienced. by only reading blogs and writing in 140 characters or less, we diminish our attention spans and ability to write meaningfully.

i still have myspace, facebook, twitter, and google reader accounts, yet going forward, i plan to use much more meaningfully. what that means? thoughts for another post. this current one is already far too long.

last thought – for those who say they don’t blog because of twitter? malarky! if that’s the case, you never really had anything to say.

the title of this post is credited to robert brodrecht.

in a day’s time, from this:

to this:

i love sunshine.

“On behalf of the President’s Cabinet, it is my pleasure to announce that 3 o’clock Fridays are BACK AGAIN this year!” from may 22 through august 14.

our very nice hr lady sent this list last month on ways to eat healthier when eating out. this is something robyn and i have been focusing on, that is, paying attention to what we eat more closely. perhaps you will find it helpful.

1. think ahead and plan where you will eat. consider what meal options are available. look for restaurants or carry-out with a wide range of menu items.
2. take time to look over the menu and make careful selections. some restaurant menus may have a special section for “healthier” choices.
3. read restaurant menus carefully for clues to fat and calorie content. menu terms that can mean less fat and calories: baked, braised, broiled, grilled, poached, roasted, streamed.
4. menu terms that can mean more fat and calories: batter-fried, pan-fried, buttered, creamed, crispy, breaded. choose these foods only occasionally and in small portions.
5. order the regular or child-size portion. mega-sized servings are probably more than you need. for a lighter meal, order an appetizer in place of a main course.
6. it’s ok to make special requests, just keep them simple. for example, ask for a baked potato or side salad in place of french fries; no mayonnaise or bacon on your sandwich; sauces served on the side.
7. hunger can drive you to eat too much bread before your meal arrives. hold the bread or chips until your meal is served. out of sight, out of mind.
8. think about your food choices for the entire day. if you’re planning a special restaurant meal in the evening, have a light breakfast and lunch.
9. limit the amount of alcohol you drink. no more than one drink for women and two for men. alcohol tends to increase your appetite and provides calories without any nutrients.
10. tempted by sweet, creamy desserts? order one dessert with enough forks for everyone at the table to have a bite.
11. split your order. share an extra large sandwich or main course with a friend or take half home for another meal.
12. boost the nutrition in all types of sandwiches by adding tomato, lettuce, peppers or other vegetables.
13. a baked potato offers more fiber, fewer calories and less fat than fries if you skip the sour cream and butter. top your potato with broccoli and a sprinkle of cheese or salsa.
14. at the sandwich shop, choose lean beef, ham, turkey or chicken on whole grain bread. ask for mustard, ketchup, salsa or lowfat spreads, and don’t forget the veggies.
15. in place of fries or chips, choose a sidesalad, fruit or baked potato, or share a regular order of fries with a friend.
16. enjoy ethnic foods such as chinese stirfry, vegetable-stuffed pita or mexican fajitas. go easy on the sour cream, cheese and guacamole.
17. at the salad bar, pile on the dark leafy greens, carrots, peppers and other fresh vegetables. lighten up on mayonnaise-based salads and high-fat toppings. Enjoy fresh fruit as your dessert.
18. eat your lower-calorie food first. soup or salad is a good choice. follow up with a light main course.
19. ask for sauces, dressings and toppings to be served “on the side.” then you control how much you eat.
20. pass up all-you-can-eat specials, buffets and unlimited salad bars if you tend to eat too much.
21. if you do choose the buffet, fill up on salads and vegetables first. take no more than two trips and use the small plate that holds less food.
22. load up your pizza with vegetable toppings. if you add meat, make it lean ham, canadian bacon, chicken or shrimp.
23. look for a sandwich wrap in a soft tortilla. fillings such as rice mixed with seafood, chicken, or grilled vegetables are usually lower in fat and calories.
24. build a better breakfast sandwich: replace bacon or sausage with canadian bacon or ham and order your sandwich on a whole grain english muffin or bagel.
25. be size-wise about muffins, bagels, croissants and biscuits. a jumbo muffin has more than twice the fat and calories of the regular size.
26. try a smoothie made with juice, fruit, and yogurt for a light lunch or snack.
27. refrigerate carryout or leftovers if the food won’t be eaten right away. toss foods kept at room temperature for more than two hours.
28. grabbing dinner at the supermarket deli? select rotisserie chicken, salad-in-a-bag and freshly baked bread. Or, try sliced lean roast beef, onion rolls, potato salad and fresh fruit.
29. always eating on the go? tuck portable, nonperishable foods in your purse, tote, briefcase or backpack for an on-the-run meal. some suggestions are peanut butter and crackers, granola bars, a piece of fresh fruit, trail mix, single serve packages of whole grain cereal or crackers.
30. for desktop dining, keep single-serve packages of crackers, fruit, peanut butter, soup, or tuna in your desk for a quick lunch.

source: american dietetic association

funniest spam i’ve received as of late:

This is a joke :) The barber, who fiddled and called the figures. Upon the block of death. Conciliate the duke! Empty apartment, where the mats are still littered did not follow. Still he worked he had bound notebooks, he knew all, that was certain! Indeed he pronounced.

anyone, translation? please?

recipe overview

• cook time: 01 hr 15 min
• yields: 06 servings

ingredients

• 12oz whole-wheat lasagna noodles (15 noodles)
• 08oz lean ground beef (90 percent lean or higher)
• 02t olive oil
• 08oz portobello mushrooms, diced (about 03 large mushroom caps)
• 04c good quality store-bought marinara sauce
• 01 (15oz) container part-skim ricotta cheese
• 01 (10oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
• 01 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2t salt
• 1/2t freshly ground black pepper
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1/4c grated parmesan
• 03oz grated part-skim mozzarella cheese (about 2/3 cup)

Directions

preheat the oven to 375 degrees f.

cook the noodles al dente according to the directions on the package. drain them well then lay out on waxed paper to prevent them from sticking to each other.

heat a large nonstick skillet over a medium-high heat. add the beef and cook until no longer pink, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks, about 03 minutes. transfer the meat to a plate, discarding any fat remaining in the pan.

add the oil to the same pan and heat over a medium-high heat. add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has evaporated and they begin to brown, about 05 minutes. return the meat to the pan. stir in 02 cups of the tomato sauce and simmer for 02 minutes.

in a medium bowl combine the ricotta cheese, spinach, egg, the salt, the pepper and nutmeg.

spread 01 cup of tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. place a layer of lasagna noodles on top, touching but not overlapping. spread half of the ricotta mixture on top of the noodles. add another layer of noodles. top with half the beef/mushroom mixture. repeat with another layer of noodles, then remaining cheese mixture, more noodles, then remaining beef mixture and finally 1 more layer of noodles. top the final layer of noodles with the remaining sauce, then sprinkle with the grated cheeses. cover loosely with foil and bake for 45 minutes. uncover and bake for 15 minutes more.

nutritional info

1. calories 530
2. total fat 16g
3. saturated fat 07g
4. mono fat 05g
5. polyunsaturated fat 0.75g
6. protein 35g
7. carbohydrates 62g
8. fiber 09g
9. cholesterol 90mg
10. sodium 1150mg

source: food network