72Hr Fast Has Begun

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I have decided to undertake a 72hr fast. It was half spur of the moment, half pre-meditated if that makes sense.

Basically, last night, I ate a very small dinner of one avacado, and one naan with roasted red pepper dip, and had a half of a bowl of Lays chips, and woke up this morning thinking: “I will start my fast”.

I did a little research on the subject and I think it goes without saying that eating junk food isn’t good before a fast, but also that one should plan ahead a day or two and structure their diet tapering down to nil food. The key though, I feel, is to ensure that you are eating healthy foods prior to the fast if you wish to feel as little pain as possible.

So now, as I’m in hr.20, I’m feeling good. Not to hungry and feeling the inside of my mouth tasting a little bit weird. You know when you are about to get sick, and your glands inside your cheeks start to salivate? Thats kind of what the feeling is like, minus the oozyness. But I can feel those glands going! I guess this is a good thing.

The purpose of this fast isn’t necessarily a detox, as much as its a spiritual/mental thing; its about control my body and mind to an extent that I can do anything. I suppose I’d be lying though, for in a way, I have been feeling lately that my guts are becoming toxic, I wont discuss the details to save my blog from becoming explicit… to much.. 🙂

I’ve also learnt that when coming out of the fast, I must ease my body back to eating levels a non-faster preserves. No-problem.

Right now, like I said, everything is going good. I went for about a 45 minute walk earlier this afternoon, at about hr.16 or so, and it was ok. One thing I’m noticing is that I’m a little bit light headed, and I’m very conscious of every little squeek that my body gives me in refute to my movements. Its hard to tell whether I’m just aligning with my body more, or if its because of the fast that I feel those tweeks. Either way, I’m happy, feeling good, and glad that I’m finally doing a fast.

I’ve been having weird cravings, earlier it was a grilled cheese sandwich, and then it was a Big Mac. Weird because I don’t eat dairy anymore, or eat fast food anymore, McDonalds for at least 5 years, and dairy for at least 2yrs.

For more information on fasting, check out : exerciseandmind.com

At any rate, I highly suggest for anybody to do one, if not for longer at least 24hrs. I’m already feeling more positive and more in tuned with myself.

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Spring Time : Cherry Blossoms Are Here

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I’m listening to Two Sisters, by Tom Waits. Some of his stuff just rocks me to my soul, but this one in particular makes me think of the old west when I was a young lad (no, really I was never involved), but it makes me remember a time when men wore dress pants every day, top hats were in fashion, and so were mustaches.

But most of all, this time makes me think of the spring time. How there is always a hope beyond all recognition that things are going to start looking better, but still one knows that tomorrow will come and drag on just as the last have come. Thats ok though, because we did, and do have cherry blossoms to keep our spring time hopeful.

They just look so beautiful all over the place, sticking out against the cold grain of the leaf-less brothers and sisters out there.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how cities and citizens decide that its in their best interest to chop down trees everywhere. This, without a doubt, makes me feel sad for what we have lost in our expansion as a society. Today I went for a hike today, in support of WildNed through the woods, which just brings back so much feeling of health and wealth that is beyond any currency that exists. The fact that we chop down all our trees to put up concrete is understatedly sad.

A house just around the corner from where I live, was for sale and gated up for the longest while, but finally did sell. So, what does the new owner do as a first priority? He chops down the row of trees that spanned the entire length of the lot side to side, must have been about 20ft tall those trees, most about 2ft apart.

Keep our trees, keep our nature, keep the earth so that tomorrow I can go out for a walk in it and see flowers blooming and children playing in the fields. Please join my fight in stopping people from cutting down old trees on their properties just because the insurance company says its a risk, and it’ll save you $20 a month on insurance.

Besides, they help us all breath!

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Norwegian Cruise Lines Pearl Experience

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Recently I’ve made a trip on the great Pearl, which is among Norwegian Cruise Line’s fleet, into the Caribbean where we stopped at Samana in Dominican Republic, St. Thomas and Tortola in the Virgin Islands, and finally for a day in the sun at the Great Stirrup Cay just outside of Miami. Overall the trip was great, free food, entertainment to keep me from going stir crazy, and day excursions into places that were exotic and warm. Alcohol was expensive ( to be expected ) and a lot of overweight, and old people, which I suppose is also to be expected.

The first day was hectic, loading onto the ship, standing in line, getting our rooms, finding our way around the boat, and then finally falling asleep on a new bed. Yai, were on a cruise.

It took one full day before we reached the first town, Samana, located in the Dominican Republic, which incidentally is on the same island as Haiti. Maybe I should have already known this…. When we got there, we had to tender to land (take a smaller boat from ship into the dock). Yes, more waiting in line, but not to much. We were slow starters, so we were among the last to go.

As it turned out, there wasn’t too much to see in the small town, but a lot to get haggled about. The instant we stepped outside the gates of NCL, it was haggler after haggler, asking us if we needed a ride to the water falls, into town, scooter etc. Then we walked another hundred paces, and were into the nick-nacks selling. “Brother, this one is for you, got the right shirt for you here. Brother where are you from? Oh I have a sister living there. yes yes.” At one point, they were blocking the road so that we couldn’t walk any further until we rather forcefully pushed our way through and continued on. Think moving through a crowded bar but nobody else around. yes. it was fun. My folks bought some very cheap, and very large paintings from the artists. They are pretty.

Next we were off to the new and fairly modern city of St. Thomas, complete with a yacht club, and one with a helicopter on the top of it.

There was even a part of the city named “Yacht City” which was pretty cool to see Louis Vitton and Gucci stores there…. Coming from the poverty we just passed through. I was able to get online at a small place called Hubbly Bubbly Hukka lounge. No, I did not try the Hukka. I think it was $15 for a huke? But, I did buy some beers there at reasonable price, and had a very friendly bartender serving me beers.

After this day, we headed for Tortuga, another city in and amongst the Virgin Island. It was a less fancy town, possibly smaller, and once again we required a Tender to get into the port.

We wandered around for a bit, found a place to sell us Red Stripe Jamaican Beer for $1.50 which were also tall beers! so we pounded a few of those back, and headed back to the boat.

After this, which was our 4th night on the boat, we had a full day of ocean

The next day we hit the private beach of Great Stirrup Cay, where we had a full day of sitting on the beach cooking like lobsters (ie. getting red) on beautiful tropical sand and ocean to swim in. We were buying $25 buckets of beer (6 per bucket) and by the time we were to get up and head home, were feeling happy! The brother got up for the first time in a while, and fell right down right away! haha. So funny. One of the lifeguards was right there and laughed along with me and my mother! He was cooked red completely! Poor fellow.

This was our last day full day on the boat, and now I’m sitting here, the next day, on solid land in a Miami hotel right next to the airport, yes there are airplanes going overhead constantly.

Each morning I would get up, head to the all you can eat buffet, and get myself a omelet made, with ham, onions, mushrooms, peppers, and spinach. So good. I’d usually get a eggs bennedict, some bacon and some sausage (turkey and pig) to go with it. Today I also had some french toast. Yum.

After this, it was usually to the tender desk to get a number to be called to take us over to the land, or else sit down in a nice spot on the deck and read my book. I managed to finish off The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, which was a pretty good book. Kinda getting used to his style of writing, and definitely enjoy the dream it takes me on. It was a big book though. I’ve now started The Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, which is turning out to be a very very interesting book. If your interested in how the USA is taking over the world, its a must read.

After this it’d either be lunch time, which was beer if we were on land, or more buffet on the boat. Probably a bit of chicken, salad, and who knows what else. Always yummy, but usually the same selection of a buffet. Near the end, it was kind of hard to face the buffet. Same old thing in a way, but still a lot of selection.

By this time, the family was usually very tired, and we’d either head off to read some more or take a nap. This is when I’d usually find my way to the gym (if I hadn’t drank to much), up to the deck to read some more, or off to the courts to play some bball.

Then we’d be off to the formal dinner palace, where we’d dress up, and be served by some really good service. It was really a treat to get the service, and the great food from the restaurant, and is always fun to dress up. The New York Cheese Cake was my favorite and most desired dessert I picked. Had it almost every night.

After this, at 9:30, we’d head off to the theater to take in the evenings entertainment. Generally it was really good. I’m a bummer sometimes, and just want to read my book, but my folks loved it. I cant believe those people up there could do what they were doing, with the boat rocking as it was. Magic Tricks, comedy acts, vegas show girls, and swinging circus acts were all involved in the entertainment.

Following this, I got into the habit of going to a 24hr lounge, and ordering some won ton soup, which hit the spot completely. Around this time, it was bed time, completing a full day of life on board a cruise ship.

I am always astonished to find the amount of people that are overweight in this wonderful world. The amount of people that could barely walk, crouched over, wrinkly and overweight was astounding. I hope I never get to be in that sort of shape. I’m taking the necessary precautions.

My folks are talking how their going to be staying in Miami Beach tomorrow, kinda makes me jealous, but I realize that my time has come, and my adventure must end. Back tomorrow off to Olympic bit Vancouver, to hit the books for another few months of happyness?!

Time to get back on track with some help from Exercise and Mind . Get my focus on, get my exercise habits back, and get my love returning for all things necessary. Its always been there I guess, but I always find its hard to focus again.

Hopefully this pending cold goes away, and its just the long day I spent in the sun getting its best of me. I’m happy we managed to get away on a cruise, my first experience on one, and I highly suggest it for people who are looking to relax and explore new lands conveniently. Let me know if you have any other experiences on your cruise you’d like to share!

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Bennigans Dinner, Miami

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Tonight I went for dinner at a place called Bennigans, thats right next to the Miami International Airport, conveniently located right next to the hotel I’m staying at tonight. To be to the point, I was very disappointed.

First off, on the menu, they have a picture of a full pint, with big arrows pointing at how regular pints fill up to ‘this’ certain line, but theirs fill up to ‘this’ certain line. We received a pint that was about the size of a glass you usually get in a hotel room in a plastic wrapper. Very unimpressed. The folks took a lot of offence to this, egged on by me, they complained, and we eventually got a 1/3 or so of the mug filled up to make up for the lacking pint. Sure, this is alright, but seriously now. If your a manager of a restaurant, and somebody complains about their pint being pint sized, and you know that the flyers are lying, not to mention that you’ve watered down the pints, do you not give them a full, complimentary pint? I would. But then again, its a restaurant thats besides the airport, which means very few returning customers, and the staff seemed about the ‘just graduated’ age. So, I guess things are becoming more clear.

We sit around, me finally with my bottled bear (a buddy of mine once said: “I always get bottles of beers because each one is especially brewed for you”. I now see his point.

Dinner is served. Let me first say that it was tasty, yes. How can a beef dinner not be tasty smothered in gravy? yai. SO I will not fuss further about the meal. No, wait, I will.

My meal was beef soup or something like that, which was basically chuncks of beef mixed with some red potatoes. Yum. yes, yum. But the side they gave me, was mashed potatoes. Red Potatoes. Kinda odd no? I did, as it said on the menu, have a choice between about 8 other sides (substitute the mashed red potatoes for them) but, I did in fact receive a caesar salad to start with too. So, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t deal with. But really, its odd to be smothering your potato chunks with mashed potatoes…. If you ask me.

So the fellow that was serving us did have some fast service, and he humbly and care-ingly accepted the complaints we put forth. But, at the end of the day, what is a tip for? Service, enjoyment, the whole experience? Yes I think so. So, at a place like this, where we were very unpleased with a few things, but satisfied with a few other things, how do you decide?

We found out, that a gratuity was already automatically added onto the bill for us, at 15% so we didn’t have to debate how much to tip. I didn’t like this part of the whole deal. Tipping is for service thats already known to be very good, at a place thats very classy and only really rich people go there. This place was more like a run down Red Robins, or a Chucke Cheeses. I was very unimpressed with this little fact that was added on the bill. Automatic gratuity. We should have definitely raised a lot more stink there than we ended up raising, but let it be known from here on forth, I, or we, will never again visit a Bennigans.

The end.

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Golden Corral – All you can eat buffet

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So yesterday I had the good fortune to experience some of the fine dining down here in Miami, and what a treat I was in for.

When we rolled into the parking lot, the first area of parking we hit, we decided to stay clear of it cause there was a group of people with their hood, trunk, and a few doors open. Can you say a robbery? The next area we drove into there was a couple in a Neon changing their babies diaper. How cute.

Into the Golden Corral. I suppose we should have been horrified immediately by the fact that the lineup for the steaks was about the line up you could expect for a super bowl halftime bathroom lineup, and of the lineup, I think it would have been hard to find two people that were not extremely overweight, yes most women had spandex on and most men had cutoff t-shirts. What amazed me most was the hair most of the women had. Some of the most amazing feats of hair composition I’ve ever even imagined to see. It kind of reminded me of the pages you see like “people of wall-mart” where you see grown men in batman costumes etc. yai.

We squeezed ourselves into the seating, where we had to ask around how to begin eating. Found some plates and attempted the all you can eat buffet. I turned my head as I watched a few people using their hands to poke and pick at some of the food as they waited in line for their steaks, and continued onto the salads to get myself a nice chicken ceasar salad. It was very decent.

Yes, I did wait in the linup for a steak. Yes, the kind lady in front of me called the griller doing the steaks ‘darling’. Yes, I did get a dessert: one slice of chocolate cake, and one slice of apple pie. Yes, there was food all over the ground getting stepped on. Yes, I did see an extremely fat man wearing sweat pants and grease stains included. And yes, I did work out this morning.

What amazes me the most is that people like the lady beside us, she managed to, on her first pass, get one steak on her plate, plus a side dish for another steak, which she lavished over. Her husband also went up to get a dish, and brought himself back a steak and his wife another steak. When we were leaving, she had three steaks, which were each about 10o oz. steaks each, and one on her plate. Seriously? Yes, I’m totally serious. And it wasn’t just her. Everybody around us was going  up for their 4th and 5th plates, drinking their sodas.

You know what though, I feel kind of bad for judging these folks. In the most part, every single one of them seemed to be in a jolly mood, giggling and laughing to each other, having a gay old time at the Golden Corral. Who couldn’t with all that food in their bellies though?

I just wish I could be able to bring a first date to a place like that up in Vancouver!

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Being a Passenger

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So here I am, sitting in SETAC Airport, just chilling. This is how I roll. But when I’m sitting, I’m watching and observing, like the good passenger I am.  Its kind of amazing to see so many folks, all with their own styles and quirks.

A lady across from me has her leopard colored jacket on, the guy whose sitting next to me and I think reading what I’m writing is in his yachting outfit, I also see a group thats made to wear green sweatshirts, old people and young people all in all. Fair enough, thats cool. Its a group thing, gotta keep everybody together. I love how they all wrap their sweaters around their waste. I dont understand how people can think or completely disregard any sense of style. I guess in a way they do have their own style, who am I to judge as my brother keeps reminding me.

So for now, I continue to appreciate the graces god has given me to roll with a little bit of style, and smirk at the funny people.

On to lighter notes, I was stuck next to a lady who would tell her child to stop it with everything he tried to do, and also blamed him for every unfortunate thing that occurred during the whole flight. “The boy needs to tinkle” “The boy was kicking his sweater below his seat, could you pass it forward” .

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Off To Miami

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So, as it goes, I will be heading off to Miami, or Florida area if you will, for a week, and then a week cruise to the Bahamas! I know, this sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Weather that I can wear shorts in, sandy beaches that I can lay down on, sunscreen and sunglasses, and drinks at oceanside cafe’s are just a few of the things that I plan on doing.

You see, in Vancouver here, we have this thing called the 2010 Olympics going on, so everything and everything is shutting down for two weeks, except the pubs, and this includes the fine establishment I frequent. So Two weeks, what to do…. hmmm.

I’ll be taking my camera, so expect to see a couple dozen pics from the excursions down there.

The plan is to get to the Everglades, and take some pictures of Alligators. The folks who are already down there say that the birds are marvelous and come right up to the boat or hiker, which is what I’ll be doing.

I cannot wait for this I’ll be there in 72hrs, so if your down there, and want to hook up, take some pics together or have some fun, contact me and we’ll see what we can do!

Stay safe kids.

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Disgruntled Student

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SO, I just got back one of my midterms, yai. How much fun. It was one of those midterms that you write, and your like, YEA! I killed it! BUT, as it turns out, I didn’t kill it so much. I, more or less, bombed it. Uhm. Ok.

Disgruntled as I was, I packed up my smart cap, and went to the professors office to check out the exam, see if I could find why I’m such an idiot, or snap on the TA for marking my paper so stupidly.

When I arrived there seemed to be some fellow in their asking questions galore, going over question by question the assignment, a few hours before its due, thinking this is a normal thing. Poor professor if that’s the case. They beckoned me in, said it was all good: enter the cave.

I take a seat at the only seat available, for some reason this fellow was on his knees, and wait until the professor asks me if he can help me. “Why yes of course! I’m here to look over my exam that I bombed.” It was kind of interesting because at the start of last lecture, he mentioned that the entire class average was incredibly high, and that we shouldnt expect the exams to be this high for the next two. Ohk, great. I hadn’t looked at mine yet, but I saw high 90’s in my mind.

First thing I find, was that I had about 15 giant arrows pointing at the page to the left, for the extra space I needed to complete the question, and the TA decided to go to the right, to the page at the reverse side and mark the question there. I guess Mr. Marker didn’t’ think it was odd that what they were marking had nothing to do with the question … Had 1/20, complained and got 20/20.

Next thing I find, is that I apparently wrote something a little bit hard to understand. Although, in what I had stated, there was no statement that was contrary to the definition that I was supposed to have, in fact, I stated everything that there was to be stated, just in a weird way I guess. Did I mention that his questions on exams were a little bit hard to understand? No. But, I did manage to squeeze out another 3 marks from him: Had 6/12, got 9/12.

I’d like to take a moment here to point out that in an exam, were allowed to ask the teacher of anything were a little bit unclear of in the question, so why the hell arent they made to ask us about answers we give that they are unclear about? I think this is one major flaw of having classes that range in the hundreds.

Next thing I find, is that a definition called for set theory, where as I gave just variable theory. Which in turn means that set theory is written as P(x) -> Q(x), where just variable theory would be written as p -> q. So, I wrote out the exact definition, just that I used p’s, instead of P(x)’s. Had 8/12, got 8/12. My complaining wasn’t useful here.

Thats bunk if you ask me. Witch hunt. Your telling me that your going to drop me from lets say a A to a B just because I used p’s instead of P(x)’s?  And because, even though I’m fluent in english, and was forced to regurgitate some law or rule that was thrown at us, among with a few hundred more I might add,  I cannot a. remember it verbatim, and b. I cannot spew it out in completely readable english  your going to drop my grade?

I think this is total and complete taking advantage of your power, and laziness in the meantime. I should make a point here that I know as a fact that at least 2/3 of the markers are not very fluent in English.

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Chicken and Sausage Stir Fry

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Tonight I was procrastinating making dinner, so I waited, and waited, and waited, and snacked, and waited, and waited. But! Finally, I decided to go to the grocery store, get some local produce, and make a stir fry, and boy did it turn out good!

  1. To start off, I chopped my chicken and sausage into bite sized chunks, and put them into the pan to start frying with a little extra virgin olive oil.
  2. Next I added a bunch of spices, my favorites are sesame seeds, tarragon, hot curry powder, chilies (stuff like they have at boston pizza in the shakers)
  3. Started the frying pan with sliced onions and garlic with some more extra virgin olive oil
  4. Started my rice, which is white basmati which I match the rice to water ratio(1/3 cup), plus a little more water and bring that to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes
  5. while this is going on, I chopped some : 1/2 green pepper, 1 carrot, 2 large mushrooms, 1 tomato, and 2/3 cup of brocolli into little bits
  6. after frying the meat, and its looking almost done, no more red parts, I add all the vegetables and put a top onto the dish to let it kind of steam.
  7. after steaming for a few minutes, I put in the onions and garlic that were frying (they should be brownish by now)
  8. let this simmer for a little, and voila! presto! yum. full belly.

I serve it on top of the rice and a glass of red fits the bill!

For some more great ideas check out this health website

Hope you enjoy, let me know if you’ve tried it!

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Eating Healthy Day by Day

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Alot of people feel that the word “diet” is something only fat people and health nuts use, but folks, dont be afraid. Its not that bad to use the word. In fact, truly, by definition, diet is just what you eat, not relating to or pertaining to specific food groups.

So, the key is to stick to foods that are healthy, I guess this part is obvious. The real challenge is to create ways to incorporate this into your life, so from exerciseandmind.com, lets break it down meal by meal.

Keep your breakfast simple: fruits and vegetables. no sugars added, no fansy schemes, just a simple meal. The people at exercise and mind recommend a blend, fruits, oats, flax and almond milk. The almond milk has calcium if your afraid for your bones!

For lunch its also simple, keep a sandwich, wrap, salad, or get creative with leftovers! Its not that hard now, come on!

For dinner, be brave and make your own meals. It only takes approx 20-30 min to make most dishes, and they are gratifying once you’ve created your own.

A key to making a delicious dish every time, is to have a good stock of spices. A trick I use is to go to the spice isle every time I go into the grocer, and each visit I pick out one new spice. In a few weeks, you’ll have a nice big selection. Go for the spices that even the non-cooker knows the names of, oregano, tarragon, sesame seeds… etc.

Most of all, enjoy making the meals. Its a great feeling to know your ea

ting healthy. When you go shopping, just simply dont buy the junk food that your trying to stay away from. Instead, spend a few extra dollars for a really nice steak, or a rare exotic fruit to try out. It really does make a difference.

Good luck!

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