A Movie and Bookstore

Today, I joined a social networking group event to see "Salt". I enjoyed both the movie and the company of the group members who attended. I thought the plot, pacing, and acting were all done very nicely. The ending of the movie does leave open the possibility of a sequel, a series, or a character franchise. After the movie, three of us went to a nearby restaurant "Chipotle Mexican Grill". I thought the restaurant was a nice selection, it was able to accommodate the vegans and the non-vegans (like myself). After lunch, each person went their separate way.

I went to Barnes & Nobles. Although I have a stack of unread books at home, I still decided to buy something. As I was brousing the sci-fi/fantasy section, I continued into the horror section. Normally, I'm really not a horror fan. However, for some strange reason, I want to read Stephen King's latest book, "Under the Dome". I read a couple of chapters just to see if the book would hold my attention. Much to my surprise, the chapters I read did hold my attention -- Yes, I know the book has 1088 pages. A part of me was worried that I would lose interest in the book and not finish reading it. Also, a part of me didn't want to carry around that heavy book. In a moment of strength (I rarely have to resist an impulse buy), I decided to hold off on buying the book. I decided to buy another (smaller) King book with the idea that if I could finished the smaller Stephen King book, then I would buy the much larger "Dome" book. After lingering in the King section for awhile, I narrowed down the selection between "Misery" and "Salem's Lot". I settled on "Salem's Lot". I also purchased "Infinite Crisis - A Novel" by Greg Cox. They took a 5 or 6 issue comic book series about Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman and made a novel out of it(404 pages). Interesting.

Post Date - Sunday, July 25, 2010 12:44AM

Preview

Not much to write about. For the last couple of days, I've been trying to tackle the cluster of papers, receipts, and other clutter that I've lived in, on, and over for the last couple of years. I also need to clean up my living room so that I can unpack my exercise bike and start exercising.

The attached photos are a couple of "Previews". The first photo is my computer area/dining area, finally cleared off. I've had papers, and clutter covering these surfaces for at least a couple of years. Yesterday was the first day in at least two years that I've eaten at that table. The other photo is the exercise bike. Hopefully, I will finally be able to clean my living room. Once my living room is cleaned the other rooms will be easy to clean.

Finished!!!

Another lazy day. Today was my FedEx wait day. I was waiting for my stationary exercise box. While I was waiting, I spent the day watching various court shows on TV. Is it me, or are the signals for the converter box getting worst. Sorry, I got sidetrack.

My new bike arrived about 4:30PM EST. Some assembly required. While waiting for my bike, I also FINALLY started to do some cleaning of my dirty apartment. I also finished the jigsaw puzzle "Comic Relief - The Great Escape". Yep, it was much easier on a flat surface. However, I would've had more difficulty if I didn't have the picture on the box to help.


Post Date - Tuesday, July 20, 2010 11:59PM

Lazy Day

The title says it all.

Oh, I was surprised to get an email from Amazon saying that my exercise bike would be delivered tomorrow -- not a moment too soon. I was surprised because I qualified for the free shipping which gave the shipping time between 5 and 9 business days (and delivery date a few days afterwards). I placed the order around Saturday around midnight (Sunday morning). If the email was correct, then I'll receive my bike in two business days. Great!

Jigsaw Puzzle in Central Park

Today was the first meeting of one of the social networking groups that I organize. I think I've mentioned a few times, that social networking groups are ways a person can meet others who share common interests. In this case, I started this group on an impulse during a moment of boredom. As I was "creating my group's profile page (choosing color combinations, and introduction page, etc...), I was planning to delete the group when I got to the payment options page. However, that page never appeared, so my group became a reality. I mentioned that it doesn't matter what interests you might have, there will probably be people who share the same interest, or if they don't, you can be placed on a waiting list until someone creates the group.

So, what is my new group?

Jigsaw puzzles.

The goal of the group is to find others who share an interest in completing jigsaw puzzles as well as building scale models.

Well, with my group now operational, I accepted the meeting time and place of the automatic scheduling. Today was the day. Even though no one has joined my "Jigsaw" group, I still went to the park to complete jigsaw puzzle I purchased yesterday at the mall.

Below is a slideshow of the results of my first "Jigsaw" social networking group.

Another Impulse Buy

I think the title says it all. When it arrives, I'll try very hard to not make this just another expensive clothes rack.

Movie - Sorcerer's Apprentice

Today, I decided to go to the mall. While there, I saw the movie, "Sorcerer's Apprentice". I really liked the movie. It was light, entertaining and very enjoyable. I thought all of the actor's did a nice job. My only complaint is that the "mop scene" seemed a bit of an afterthought.

After the movie, I walked around the mall for awhile. Yep, I'm still off my diet. I had Wendy's for lunch, and Chinese takeout for dinner.

Quick Entry

I've slipped into my regular vacation mode(being lazy). Hopefully, I will be able to break out of it. I'm going to try to make this quick.

Playstation 2
On an impulse, I resumed playing with my Playstation. I've been playing "Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer" for the last few days. Before this, I hadn't touched my Playstation console in 2 years. The last game saved on it was July 3, 2008.

The Medical Results
Just my luck that the day I had two different doctor's appointment, it rained...hard. My first appointment was for the toenail removal. I arrived soaking wet, in a lobby with the air conditioning cranked up high. So high, the elderly waiting in the waiting area went to stand by the main door.

Anyway, the minute I arrived(on time), I knew I wouldn't make the other appointment on time. I was told that "they were a bit backed up" and I would have to wait. For the 15 minute procedure, I had to wait about an hour. However, once the doctor (podiatrist) arrived, I was very pleased. The doctor was very polite and professional. Although the tools she had looked a bit intimidating, she was very careful. She told me that the whole toenail didn't need to be removed. She told me that a blood blister under the nail was the cause of the toenail growing out of place. She cut down the toenail with what looked like a pair of wire cutters, and used an electric drill to file the nail down. She told me that a new nail will grow in about 9 months, but I shouldn't expect it to grow completely normal. She told me to keep the nail area cleaned and rub antibiotic ointment on it. I am scheduled to returned in October for a check up. No pain, and no discomfort. I was very pleased.

The next stop was another clinic in another part of Manhattan. Although this place was further "downtown", the behavior, attitudes, and responses seemed a bit more "Uptown". People skills were sorely lacking. However, there was a quite a bit of loud "chitchat" going on around me. Here (luckily), I didn't have to wait long. I was at this clinic to have an ultrasound taken of my groin area. I was attended to by a medical technician or a nurse, (either or, the woman lacked people skills). I was out in about 15 minutes.

My Diet
Since my doctor told me that I needed to "added a bit more protein and carbohydrates" to my diet, I fell of the diet wagon. I translated the doctor's statement as, "Your diet's wrong start over". I think I mentioned in a previous blog entry that I was looking for any excuse to stop the diet...and I found it. So, what have I been doing for the last couple of days? I've had a couple of dinners from a buffet-styled takeout restaurant, a meal at MacDonald's, a spaghetti dinner from a local takeout restaurant, fried chicken and beef-fried rice dinner, and a few pints of Hagen Daz ice cream. The plan is to resume the liquid diet (with modifications) on Monday. I also plan to start working out on Monday at the local Y.

Twitter
Today, I reactivated my Twitter account. I don't remember when or why I got it in the first place, but I never really used it. With Tracfone (my old prepaid service), I could use the mobile twitting feature, so I didn't use Twitter at all. Now with AT&T, I can send twits with my cell. I also signed up for a couple of Twitter services. I now have CBS and NY1(a local 24 hour news channel here in NYC). I also added NY1 Weather to my cell phone. I now get weather updates in the form of a twit. I just hope the weather reports are not as annoying as the Notify NYC. I signed up for automated "emergency" reports that was suppose to tell me about important things like school closing due to snow days", but now I get almost daily reports about what seems like every delay and incident that occurs in the 5 New York City boroughs. Today, the report was the temporary suspense of the Path Trains (New Jersey trains that travel to downtown Manhattan).

Well, I think I'm done. I also just finished two pints of ice cream. I will have my work cut out for me when my diet resumes.

Post Date - Friday, July 16, 2010 11:118PM

Health Update

Today I had a walk in appointment at 3:45pm to see my healthcare provider. I went to have a groin check and a toenail check as well. After about an hour and a half waiting time, the nurse called me in to "check my vitals". Summary:
Weight - 224lbs
Blood Pressure - I don't remember, but she said it was borderline high.

Finally, the doctor called me into his office and asked me to explain my problem. After checking the groin area (and asking for the cough), he told me that I probably didn't have a hernia. But when I told him that there were times when I had a soreness in the area, he told me that I might have pulled (or strained) a muscle there. He also said that the discomfort was probably due to me lifting heaving items -- I suppose he meant like moving a classroom for summer storage. He told me that he would refer me for a sonogram just to make sure there was no damage in the area.

For my toenail, the doctor told me that my nail was growing in crooked and it would have to be removed. Both procedures were able to be scheduled for tomorrow, so I was feeling very happy.

Then, I decided to take Paperback's advice (a fellow blogger)and mention my liquid diet. He mentioned that I should be eating something solid like fish or a slice of wheat bread for protein and carbohydrates. However, I only heard the liquid diet is wrong, stop it. So, I went out and bought a dinner from a buffet-type restaurant along with a caramel, walnut, and chocolate topped brownie. I think I mentioned in a previous blog about looking for any and I many any excuse to break the liquid diet. Well, I found on. Sorry to say, I was really getting annoyed with people eating around me.

So what now? (in terms of the diet), I will of course try again (hopefully sooner rather than later). Considering, I actually weigh 224lbs. For the last couple of months I was under the impression that I only weighed 200lbs. Although, I didn't like the taste of the vegetable juices, nor did I like the hungry feeling I have day after day, nor did I like the annoyed feeling I have walking past people eating. I do have to be honest, I did like the simplicity of the only liquid diet. Before the diet, I would (very easily) rationalize myself into eating unhealthy foods:

"I'll only eat small portions..."
"I'll only eat some of the bad foods..."
"I'll start tomorrow..."
"I'll eat some vegetables with..." Etc...

Even though I didn't have a scale, I could see that I was losing some weight. I'll have to modify my liquid diet. But, my new diet will have to be just as simple as the "liquid only diet". For all the things I didn't like about the liquid diet, I did like the structure. I also liked the idea that I could stuff myself with all the fruit I wanted -- vegetables too, but let's be real, how many people like myself raised on sugar, salt, and greasy foods, really what to stuff their faces with vegetables.

I think I've lost another epal. My new epal wasn't too happy with the liquid diet I was on. He kept wanting me to eat some fast foods with him. After I told new epal that I fell off the wagon, but I still didn't want to go out for a ravioli dinner. I got the impression that he was no happy.

Well, gotta go. Doctor's appointment tomorrow (later today actually).

About the picture. Since I didn't have a photo for this blog entry, I found the attached photo using a toenail+cartoon search.

Post Date - Tuesday, July 13, 201012:39AM

Movie Day

Today my social networking event was a bit of a bust...as usual. The one person who said that he would come was a no show.

The event was to see the movie "The Last Airbender". I was surprised. The critics didn't seem to like the movie, but I was sure I was going to love this movie. Unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed with the movie. It was okay, and visually very nice, but for a sci-fi lover, I kept wanting to look at my watch wondering when the movie would end. The movie seemed a bit sloppy with gaps in the plot (and in character motivations as well). I found the older brother annoying. I also thought there was waaay too much arm flapping and rotating. I could go into more negatives, but I'll just end my review here.

After the movie, I sat in the park for a while. This diet was really doing a number in my willpower. Both in the movie and out, I found myself feeling annoyed at those people eating near me. I started thinking about getting a milkshake since it was a liquid. Luckily, I didn't. Well, the 7 days is just about up. The original plan was to have a strictly liquid diet for the first week, and then modify the diet (see previous entry). I should have been exercising, I would have seen better results. However, I need to wait for my doctor's appointment. Hopefully, my doctor will tell me it was nothing, and I'll be free to work out.

Quick Entry

I have a to try to keep this short. One, I'm tired. Two, I have a social networking event tomorrow morning. We will be seeing the Last Airbender.

Today, I started the day with washing my fruits and vegetables. I forgot to mention in my previous blog entry that the fruit and/or vegetables need to be dried before using the juicing machine. The excess water on the f/v seems to add to the pulp, but not the juice.

I experimented with the using a red bell pepper; I liked the kick it gave the juice. The juice still tasted awful, but the red bell pepper help a lot.

After a midday nap, I went out to pay my bills, and then visited my foster father. The difficulty I encountered was stepping out while on a diet. WOW!!! I couldn't take 3 steps without food (in one form or another in my face). I was so annoyed at those around me eating. I can't count how many times I wanted to have a slice of pizza, or stop in the many fast food places I walked passed.

I returned home and managed to do my laundry. I also started reading "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum. Originally, I bought the book because I was interested in reading the sequels written. However, after reading 2 or 3 chapters of the original "Oz" book, I got bored. I'm really not a literary person, but I found the story a bit too repetitively simplistic. Instead, I started reading "The Sea of Monsters"(book 2 in the series) by Rick Riordan.

The photo is a picture of my fruits and vegetables.

Post Date - Saturday, July 10, 2010 11:42PM

Health Update

Today was one of my less than productive days. This morning after checking my email (and blog comments), Jeff (one of the blog readers) mentioned that the pain I've been having in my groin area might be the start of a hernia. After checking a couple of medical websites, I started to stress out (something I do very easily). I finally called my health care provider. The earliest slot was a Monday "walk in" appointment. The next step was for me to cancel my rowing lessons. I was prepared to "try it" and see what happens, but with the idea of a hernia operation (involving surgery) firmly planted in my head, I was in no mood to risk any physical activity. I cancelled because I would be missing the first lesson and with a waiting list, I didn't want to hold a spot that someone else could use. I can always sign up at another time. Anyway, after cancelling the lessons, I was a bit depressed, so I didn't do much else for the rest of the day except watch a few YouTube videos, clips, and slept the day away. I finally got out of bed about 4pm.

I was hungry having not eaten anything all day. I only had a cup of water and a vitamin. The problem was that I didn't have much in the way of fruit. I've been able to fill up on fruit, but not the vegetables. I'm going to have to moderate my fruits much better. I went through about $40 dollars worth of fruit in a couple of days. I have a big appetite and I would usually have a full plate of food. Now on this liquid diet, I've been trying to fill up a stomach that is very, very used to being very full. the other problem is that the vegetables are not really tasty. My so-called liquid diet has been a bit out of balance with me consuming much, much more fruits Not even a little. Spending decades on sugary, fried, salty, and greasy foods, it will be a while before I can tolerate a vegetable drink. Today, with 3 apples and a handful of spinach made the drink somewhat tolerable, unfortunately, it only produced about 8 oz of juice.

Dietary Changes
I'm adding whole fruits to my diet(as in eating not just juicing them). Considering I haven't been totally on a liquid diet this week. I cheated with eating grapes, peaches, pineapples, and raisins, so the "addition" isn't a big change. Next week, I'm adding oatmeal and cream of wheat to my diet. I will continue with drinking ENSURE to fill up, but I will have to drink much less. I went through a couple of six-packs in two days. I also need to add plain tea to the diet. I should have been drinking tea (as part of the liquid diet), but I got lazy with boiling water. I will dust off my double-insulated thermos -- I might have mentioned it in a previous blog entry (months, or years ago). With the double-insulated thermos, I only need to boil water once, and it will keep it pipping hot for about 6 hours (and keeps cold drinks ice cold for 12 hours). It also has a convenient pump on the top.

I think that's about it. Below is a slideshow I made of the photos of my juicing machine. I don't know if I gave a review of the machine, but if I didn't here it is:

I really like the machine. I like the idea that I can get a good dose of vegetables on a daily basis (something I haven't really been doing). I also like that the machine is relatively quiet. The blender is much, much noisier. The cleanup of the juicer is fairly easy. I originally timed the cleanup of the juice at about 16 minutes. Today, the time was closer to 12 minutes. The half of the time clean comes from cleaning the shredding/strainer disk. The cheap brush provided really isn't doing the greatest job. I'll probably have to use one of my extra toothbrushes to clean the shredding/straining disk. Oh, I noticed that the juicer really should be clean soon after using. Today, I wanted to go to the store. I was smart enough to leave the shredding/straining disk soaking, but leaving the machine with the pulp in cause condensation of the pulp juice into the area under the pulp-collection basket and spinner. I think the juicer is fairly easy to clean if you don't let the food sit in it too long. I can see it becoming a nightmare to clean if the food hardens and dries out.



Post Date - Saturday, July 10, 2010. 1:08AM

Quick Entry

Let's see if I can be brief. I haven't blogged for a few days (not including the posting of slideshows). My original plan was to do a day by day journal entry of my summer of change. Well, those of you who have been reading awhile, know me pretty well by now. That didn't happen.

Monday
My plan was to start on Monday with my liquid diet. My plan was to spend this week getting my body used to the liquid cleansing, and to clean my apartment. That didn't happen.

Having passed on several invitations to meet a new epal (electronic pen pal) due to me cleaning and packing up my classroom for the summer, I finally agreed on a Monday meeting. I resisted the urge to do yet another "I'll start tomorrow" excuse for my diet. I brought a quart of vegetable juice for breakfast, and drank water for most of the day. The meeting? It was nice. We met at 10am in the Bronx. About 7:30pm, my epal had to return his sister's car. I stopped off at the store to buy some more vegetables and fruit (determined to start the diet tomorrow) before returning home.

Much to my surprised, I resisted the urge to "start the diet tomorrow". I settled for an 8oz. bottle of ENSURE (a health shake) and called it a night. The downside was that I managed to aggravate an old injuring. I banged my toenail causing it to bleed a bit. For awhile, that toenail has been growing up instead of out. Now, it is in a very delicate position. Any bang will most likely cause it to come off. There's more.

Also, (probably due to pushing, pulling, and lifting heavy boxes and things in my classroom, I might have sustained a groin injury. I thought if I just rested, it would get better, well it flared up on Monday, but lucky it did get better. Yes, I know I do need to see a doctor. I have already made an appointment for August 5th, but I probably should call to reschedule my appointment as a possible "it can't wait until August 5th" change. I have HIP, so my options can at times be limited. The downside is that the injures (mainly the toenail) has put me in a lazy mood these last couple of days. I haven't been out for the last couple of days (not including my brief walk to play the Lotto. I also haven't eaten anything since Sunday. The problem is that I haven't done any exercising. As a result, I haven't lost any weight (probably because my body is in starvation mode).

Wednesday
Well, today, I finally got around to unpacking the juicing machine. After washing it, I tried it out for the first time. I like it. I hated the carrot juice, but I like the machine. It took about 16 minutes to clean --the strainer basket with the attached shredder took about 5 minutes of those minutes to scrub (yes scrub) clean. I made a carrot and apple juice mix. Yuck!!!


Post Date - Wednesday, July 7, 2010 10:12PM

Brooklyn Museum - Egyptian Exhibition

Below is a slideshow of the photos taken during the Egyptian part of the Brooklyn Museum.

This and That

A New Diet
Starting tomorrow (I hope), I will be starting a new diet. I'm going to try a liquid diet. Originally, I saw a news report about a liquid diet. When I visited the site, they had a 3 day diet plan that cost $58 per day. I actually considered it, but considering my financial situation at the moment (college, credit cards, etc...), I changed my mind. I decided to buy a juicer, and try making my own juices. The plan is to try 3 ~ 7 days of a liquid diet. I also joined up for 8 lessons in rowing. I also have my unused membership to the local YMCA (due to expire in November).

Reading
I recently finished reading, "Star Trek Voyager - Unworthy". I'm not sure what novel I'll start with for my summer reading. Over the past few months of feeling a bit stressed, I'm been buying and collecting books, but not reading them. On my bookshelf at the moment are the following possible choices for my summer reading:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
2 of 3 books from the boxset of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Book 2 - The Sea of Monsters
Book 3 - The Titan's Curse
2 of 3 books from the second boxset of Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth"
Book 5 - Soul of The Fire
Book 6 - Faith of the Fallen
Book Five of The Age of Fire "Dragon Rule E. E. Knight
Legends of the Dragonrealm by Richard A. Knaak
Into A Dark Realm by Raymond E. Feist
Ananzi Boys by Neil Gaiman
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Recent comic book purchases:
Incredible Hulk #610
Hulk #23 "Who is the Red Hulk?"
Brightest Day #2 "Dead Sea King"
Brightest Day #3 "Why Have They Returned?"
Brightest Day - Green Lantern Corps #49
Amazing Spider-man #621
The Invincible Iron-Man #27
Avengers #2
Fantastic Four #580

Jigsaw Puzzles
I keep saying I would try to complete one, but I have yet to try. I just had a thought of modifying my social networking group to include jigsaw puzzles. I have this felt roll that would let me transport incomplete jigsaw puzzles.

Social Networking
I will be trying to plan activities during this summer that will force me to learn to socialize more and try meeting new people.

Well, I think that is about it for now.

Brooklyn Museum - American High Style Exhibition

Yesterday, I organized a social networking group trip to Brooklyn Museum. To save time, I'm going to just cut and paste my review of the event.

I thought the event was nice. We went a bit off schedule. Since the only member to join the event wanted to look at the "American High Style" exhibit, I went along. Clothes are not really my thing, however, it wasn't a bad experience. After the clothes, we went to the Egyptian exhibit. I thought that was very interesting (and informative). Due to being in the "American Style" exhit, we did not get tickets to the free art class. After ending the event about 6:30pm, I went back to see the Andy Warhol exhibit. It was...okay. I then continued into the African Art exhibition. Since it was still early, I went to the movie to see Iron Man 2. The movie was okay. Considering I never really liked the Whiplash character, I wasn't too excited. The movie was entertaining. I thought they should have chosen a better villain than Whiplash (even though I thought Mickey Rourke did a very good job. Every time the character stepped onto the screen, I kept thinking "just a single bullet..".

2010 Gay Pride March/Parade (Part 3)

Below is the last slideshow from my Pride Event photos.

2010 Gay Pride March/Parade (Part 2)

Below is the slideshow from the second set of photos taken during the NYC Gay Pride Parade/March.

2010 Gay Pride March/Parade (Part 1)

Hello All. Yes, it has been a while. Strangely enough, you haven't missed much. I still need another day to clean up before my vacation starts. I just visited another blogger's site on an impulse haven't not visited in several months. I thought I should post something on mine.

The only thing I had available (that I could post quickly) before calling it a night is a slideshow of the photos I took viewing the 2010 Gay Pride March/Parade. I ended up taking 250 photos and narrowed the photos down to 150 that I'll post.

The march/parade. Officially, this is a march, but it looks very much like a parade. It lasted about 3 hours and 15 minutes. It was interesting, but a bit too long. It would have been helpful if they had consistant running commentaries for those who don't know what the various groups represents.

Well, I better go. I just thought I should post something. I'm not sure if I'll post the other two photo sets. I'll think about it.