This week in Tweets

This Week in Tweets
  • 40 Days until Disney World trip. NHL upon being told that on the way to school: “WOW! That’s really close!” #
  • Was offline (or at least off-Twitter) most of the weekend figuring out Passover recipes and stuff. #
  • Thinking of getting some Quinoa for Passover. It’s a seed, but acts like rice when cooked. Need to find Quinoa not “contaminated” w/ Chometz #
  • Just added Security Freeze on my final credit file. Need to request some free Annual Credit Reports next. #
  • So close to my weight loss goal. I began on Dec 7th at 208. Now at 188. Goal is 185 by Disney trip (5/9). 3lbs to go in 6 weeks. #
  • I tend to eat worse during Passover so it may be a stumbling block. I’ll have 3 weeks to lose Passover weight before my Disney trip, though. #
  • Passover coming up. Anyone know of any good spreads to replace Hummus? Perhaps something cauliflower or hummus based? #
  • Might need to recode my entire Twitter App’s processing page. Did some PHP coding (instead of ASP) for it last night, & it ran in 3 seconds! #
  • That section of the application usually took over 3 minutes. #
  • RT @OhNuts: Smart fryer uses a mere tablespoon of olive oil to make chips http://adjix.com/x888 <= I’d consider buying 1 when price is less. #
  • RT @mike_elgan: Now you can get a Master’s Degree in Twitter! http://tinyurl.com/cldh8n <= I’m waiting for the PhD so I can be Dr. Tweet 😉 #
  • How do you get PHP/Curl to stop sending the 100-Continue header? Tried curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HEADER, array(‘Expect: ‘)); to no avail. #
  • RT @mike_elgan: Saudi article scandalized by women-only coffee shops http://bit.ly/19LEGg <= Women laughing = evil? Glad I live in USA. #
  • Love the Seth McFarlane/Hulu commercial. “Because we’re aliens. *Mmmmm* Giggedy!” #
  • Made some major progress on my Twitter App. Still have a lot to go, though. Going to recode nearly everything into PHP. #
  • For now, though, I’m too tired to focus. Goodnight all! #
  • April Fool’s Day looks like it’s going to be fun…. Super Pii Pii for the Wii?!! http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/superpiipii.html #
  • Great. Time Warner Cable is expanding their “consumption billing” tiers. Basically, you pay huge fines if you go over your monthly cap. #
  • The caps they offer are 5, 10, 20, & 40GB. 1 HD movie download can be 8GB. Add in music, Windows updates, etc & overage fees can get pricey. #
  • Have you seen @TheAngelForever’s & my April Fool’s Joke? http://www.TechyDad.com/ & http://www.TheAngelForever.com/ or was it vice versa? #
  • Guess it is time to switch TechyDad.com and TheAngelForever.com back to normal. #
  • …and the blogs are back to normal now. #
  • RT @mike_elgan: Does Twittering at work make you a better employee? http://is.gd/qjfM <= Someone (not me) show this to my higher-ups! 😉 #
  • Via @OwenC: Report: Google in ‘late-stage’ talks to buy Twitter http://tinyurl.com/chsqvf <= Google & Twitter would go well together. #
  • RT @LanceUlanoff: Okay, quick survey: Who among you believes Google is Buying Twitter and who thinks it’s pure bunk? #
  • Looks like Sedar at my wife’s aunt’s house is falling through. Going to do Sedar at my in-law’s now. Need to come up w/ a meal plan quickly. #
  • Chicken’s pretty much a given. Simple Italian dressing marinade. Roasted sweet potatoes w/ EVOO, salt & pepper. Perhaps Quinoa pilaf. #
  • Salad to begin with. Gefilte fish. Perhaps a soup (not sure what type though). #
  • If I make enough, we can do the leftovers (plus maybe one extra entree) for the second sedar. #
  • This Quinoa pilaf recipe looks good: http://is.gd/qylR #
  • What are your favorite #Quinoa recipes? Preferably ones that are kosher for Passover! (No grains, legumes, or corn.) #
  • RT @RonisWeigh: Quinoa for breakfast anyone? http://is.gd/qyrM #recipe #food <= This sounds delicious & Kosher for Passover! #
  • Wow. I added a Quinoa search to my Twitter stream and it’s taking over. Apparently, a lot of people like talking about #Quinoa! #

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Things that make me go *drool*

Technology, Things I Want

Sometimes it can be tough. From my father, I inherited an insatiable lust to buy new things. The latest bright, shiny toy brings a smile to my face and makes me want to rip out my credit card while shouting "GIMME! GIMME! GIMME! MINE! MINE! MINE!" Holding me back, however, is the better financial sense that my mother instilled in me. This side of me recognizes that if I plunk down $100 on that new eGizmo, it’ll amuse me for a month or so and then will be tossed to the side.

Even if a purchase craving gets past my "financial filter", it encounters another obstacle: my wife. She will gently remind me that I really don’t *need* that doodad and that our money needs to go to a few more important areas like the roof, new car payments, and our Walt Disney World vacation.  While I know she’s right (most of the time, at least), it doesn’t make me want the item any less.

Going on the theory that writing about your feelings helps you work through them, I’m going to list my lastest purchase cravings along with how much they would cost (not counting shipping or tax) and why I "need" them.  (The prices of all of these are from NewEgg.)

Rosewill Black 15.4" Notebook BackPack ($29.99)

Reason I Want It:  I take my work laptop home with me every night and back into work in the morning.  Up until now, I’ve been using the bag that my office bought for me along with my laptop.  However, this bag is about 4 years old and the zipper has broken.  If I don’t zip it up "just so", the top of the bag hangs open as if it weren’t zipped at all.  I thought a backpack would be a better option than a hand-help bag that I currently have because, during rain storms, I wouldn’t have to juggle my umbrella, laptop bag, and ID badge that opens the door to my work.  Plus, we could use this on our Disney World trip to take a laptop with us.  This would primarily be for my office computer, so why not ask if my office would buy one?  Well, with the poor economy, we’ve had a raise freeze.  In addition, my office is pinching pennies left and right.  I’d rather "lay low" and pounce when the raise freeze is lifted than bug my higher-ups to buy me a $30 laptop bag.

 

EA Sports Active ($56.99)

Reason I Want It:  You might have noticed the lack of updates on my WiiFit workouts.  That’s because I’ve pretty much dropped it.  For all of the sweat I put into my workouts, they generally didn’t seem to result in too much weight loss.  Don’t get me wrong.  I still love WiiFit, but I feel like I’m ready to take it to the next level.  From what I’ve seen, EA Sports Active is this next level.  It looks like the workouts are more cardio than yoga/strength training and more customizeable.  My "Weight Watchers Style" diet has taken me almost to my goal weight.  I would mainly use this to tone my body and keep myself at or near my goal weight.  And while I’d love to get the chance to review this (*hint* *hint*), I’m not going to hold my breath.

 

iMicro WebCam ($10.99)

Reason I Want It: My parents live in Long Island.  My brother-in-law lives in Buffalo.  Both are long drives from our house and so we don’t see them as often as we’d like.  It’s a shame because I want my kids to talk to and see their relatives more often.  Phone conversations are nice, but a video chat would be so much better.  NHL could show my parents his new drawing.  JSL could see his Cousin S face-to-face.  My grandmother (currently living with my parents) could see how much the kids have grown.

 

IOGEAR Portable Media Player Enclosure ($99.99) and 250GB Hard Drive ($57.99)

Reason I Want It: We have a lot of DVDs.  The kids like watching TV and enjoy watching movies from time to time.  However, watching a movie means we need to first find the movie in our pile of DVDs, then pop in the disc.  If they want to watch the movie often, the disc and case will be precariously piled on top of the TV where any sudden movement (say, jumping children) can shake them down.  This Portable Media Player would make for a better solution.  I would rip our DVDs to movie files and upload them to the 250GB hard drive.  We would then connect the Portable Media Player (with the hard drive inside it) to the TV.  A few menu choices later and our children would be watching a movie.  We might even be able to take this on trips with us to turn the boring hotel TV selection into tons of free movies.  (Free as in no more $$$ to the hotel, not as in downloaded illegally from the Internet.)  This item, of course, is the most pricey of all of my items ($157.98 total) and thus the least likely to happen.  Still, since it is the most geeky of all of these items, it’s the one I drool over the most.

And there you have it.  My Big 4 wishlist.  I may not be able to run to toss them all in my shopping cart right now (not unless I want to answer some serious questions from B as to the $250+ charge on my credit card), but I can dream can’t I?  Of course, if any of the companies that make these items (or similar items) want to send some my way, I’m more than willing to do some blog reviews.  😉

Little Debbie 100 Calorie Snack Review

Fitness, Food, Review

I recently won the Little Debbie 100 Calorie Giveaway from BeingFrugal.net.  When I got the box, I first marvelled at the nice array of snacks in front of me.  Then another thought occurred.  Why not review these?  There they were, sitting right in front of me.  All I had to do was type up my thoughts as I ate each one.  And that’s just what I did.  (NOTE: I did not do this all in one sitting.  Little Debbie 100 Calorie snacks are not good for any weight loss plan if you eat eight of them at once!)

Nutty Bar PB Stix (100 calories, 6g fat):

I happen to love sugar wafer cookies. Of course, they are diet no-no’s so I’ve gone without for awhile. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was basically a sugar wafer cookie. It wasn’t any old sugar wafer cookie. This one was filled with peanut butter, another food love of mine. Sugar wafer cookie meets peanut butter? How can you go wrong?

Nutty Bar (90 calories, 5g fat):

Of course, if there’s another food love I have, it’s chocolate. So I was really excited about this cookie. It’s just like the last cookie, but dipped in milk chocolate. By far, this was my favorite cookie.

Gingerbread Cookies (100 calories, 3g fat):

The first thing I noticed about these as I opened their package was the lovely gingerbread smell.  For some reason, I was expecting them to be hard, but they were soft and chewy.  Quite tasty.  Unfortunately, NHL and JSL caught me eating these and demanded their own so I lost two cookies to my kids.

Snow Puffs (100 calories, 2g fat):

This is the one I was dreading the most and it had nothing to do with Little Debbie.  I have had an aversion to coconut since I was very young.  In the interests of overcoming my aversion, however, I tried this cookie.  It was actually pretty good.  The coconut flavor doesn’t overwhelm the cookie and the marshmallow fluff gives it a nice, chewy consistency.  It’s something like a cross between a Moon Pie and a Whoopie Pie with some coconut added.

Triple Fudge Brownies (100 calories, 4g fat):

I’ll admit that this one disappointed me at first.  The brownie is quite tiny.  I guess I shouldn’t have expected more for 100 calories.  (The person who figures out how to make a decent sized brownie that only has 100 calories and actually tastes good will be my personal hero.)  Despite the small size, the brownie was quite tasty.  Nice chocolate flavor and texture.

Yellow Cakes (100 calories, 3g fat):

A small piece of cake.  Like the Gingerbread Cookies, this cake had a pleasant aroma.  Biting into it revealed that the cake was quite sweet and moist.  It was very tasty.

Chocolate Cakes (100 calories, 3g fat):

This one is basically like the Yellow Cakes, only made of chocolate.  As I mentioned before, I love chocolate.  So having a chocolate care with chocolate icing?  How could you go wrong?  It was very chocolatey, very moist, very delicious!  This cake was definitely one of my favorites.

Marshmallow Treats (100 calories, 2.5g fat):

This one’s pretty straightforward.  It’s basically a rice krispy treat.  I found this one too chewy for my tastes.  It wasn’t bad, mind you.  I’m just used to the original Rice Krispy treats.

Overall, I liked the Little Debbie 100 Calories treats.  You shouldn’t expect any of them to fill you up if you are hungry, but they are a good way to calm down a craving that would otherwise result in a high calorie/fat binge.

Jenny McCarthy, Vaccines, and Botox

Medical, Parenting

Jenny McCarthy has long been at the forefront of the anti-vaccine movement. Despite all scientific evidence to the contrary, she continues to insist that vaccines are linked to autism. The method seems to change as each method suggested gets shot down, but still too many parents keep their children unvaccinated and exposed to dangerous diseases.  I won’t go into the reasons why the anti-vaccine crowd is wrong.  I’ll leave that to Bad Astronomy.  However, if there’s one thing I don’t like it’s hypocracy and I just found what I consider to be a big pile of it.  Jenny McCarthy doesn’t like vaccines, but apparently, she’s a fan of Botox.  Something just seems wrong to me about this.  She doesn’t like vaccine injections for fear of medical repurcussions, but she is fine with getting Bubonic Plague injected directly into her face?  Please tell me I’m not the only one who finds that odd.

EDIT: Charlie Young over at Bad Astronomy has corrected me:  "Botox is derived from the toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. So even though she is getting injected with a powerful paralytic neurotoxin, it is not the plague."

Fair enough.  Still, though, being injected with a paralytic neurotoxin just to ward off a few wrinkles is better than getting a vaccine to ward off a debilitating illness?  Not in my book.

This week in Tweets

This Week in Tweets
  • Got almost no sleep last night after JSL had his 2nd febrile seizure in 2 days. Going to doctor’s to find out why his temp won’t stay down. #
  • RT @TheAngelForever Back from Dr w/little guy. We think sinus or hidden ear infection. Main goal keep temp down & hope antibiotics help. #
  • Tried using PHP’s Curl instead of ASP’s XMLHTTP to pull data from Twitter API. Was working but then got the Fail Whale. Did I break Twitter? #
  • Was at going away party for co-worker. Left. Just not in mood to party after the events of the weekend. (Plus, all the food is high points.) #
  • Had a productive morning but I’ve crashed. Can’t shake a lingering sadness about the weekend. I know JSL’ll be fine, but I’m still worried. #
  • I *really* wish “cool new hardware” was in my budget. Found a set top box that stores & plays movies for under $200. http://is.gd/oSWS #
  • I could rip our DVD movies onto it & easily play them for the boys. You can even buy it w/o a HD. Buy as big a HD as you like & plug it in. #
  • But after the fridge, car, and Disney Trip, I don’t think “cool new set top box to play movies” is in my future. #
  • For the Twitter record, the cool new hardware is IOGEAR Portable Media Player. (If IOGear’s on Twitter & needs a review, I volunteer. 😉 ) #
  • RT @JeanetteHafke: A Twitter Cartoon To Mock Your Existence: http://tinyurl.com/c4xfha <= You’ve summoned the FAIL WHALE!!! #
  • Students to get lessons on Twitter: http://is.gd/oVxo <= Write an essay in 140 characters or less? #
  • Had a good idea today. Fill sushi with yam tempura & then deep-fry the roll. Turns out it’s been done already though. http://is.gd/oZN6 #
  • Just got Twitter-spammed. TwitTip: Posting the same message @-ed to 20 different people isn’t “getting the word out.” It’s spamming. #
  • RT @BadAstronomer: BREAKING NEWS: creationists lose (barely) in Texas! http://is.gd/p66r #
  • FireFox is using 474MB of memory! Prob my 1 tab w/ my beta Twitter App causing the issue. To debug I’m writing full XML data to the browser. #
  • RT @DadBlogs: Top 5 Reasons Why Dad Blogs are the Blogs to Watch: http://twurl.nl/5f6t5m #
  • Found Zelda’s Sweet Shoppe’s Passover selection ( http://is.gd/pell ) via Someone Spoil me ( http://is.gd/pelu ). Drooling over the treats. #
  • Really wish there was a Kosher For Passover bakery near us. Zelda’s items look great but $20 for shipping just makes it too pricey. #
  • So cold in my office today. Huddled over the space heater and it’s not helping. *BRRRR* #
  • Might go get hot water not to make oatmeal or tea, but just to drink straight to try to warm up. #
  • Made some good progress on my Twitter App. It was running slow so I had it report runtime of each step. Found the slow point & fixed it. #
  • Turned out to be a mySQL query that was running long. Added an “Order By” & “Limit 1” & it went from 30 seconds to under 1 second runtime. #
  • The Scariest Moments of My Life: http://www.techydad.com/?p=441 #
  • RT @freebieprincess Borders 40% off List Price of 1 Item Printable Coupon http://is.gd/phF9 #

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