This is a strange-ish schedule for me this week. Sunday = Work. Monday = Off. Tuesday = Work. Wednesday = Off. Thursday = Work. Friday = Off (with a Managers Meeting at 2 PM). Saturday = Work. Sunday = Work. Monday = Unknown at this point but probably Off.

Working every other day (or having every other day off…your choice) is a bit…strange. It’s nice to have this much freedom but at the same time really fucks with the flow of life. I’d much perfer to have a couple days on and a couple days off…in a row please.

With this new “me” of sorts I’ve found myself with a hell of a lot of energy and desire to…well…do stuff. So I’ve been going rather crazy with doing stuff. Hell, I spent nearly the whole morning/early afternoon on Wednesday power washing the front driveway. Why? Because I thought it would look cool. It does look nicer…but that was a rather crazy thing to do.

We got paid yesterday so this morning I deposited my check and headed off to Fry’s for a little present for myself. I had a couple things in mind…a subwoofer for the home theatre setup, maybe a new computer game (or video card), perhaps some other cool electronic gadget that I could play with. I’ve got the money to toss around a bit…so let’s see what I can find…

I found lots of cool things…but bought nothing. Everything I found that looked cool and neat just didn’t do it for me. I held whatever it was…checked out the specs…and found myself eventually wondering why the hell am I going to buy this for? I haven’t turned on my “big” PC for…oh, 2 weeks or so now. I have the stereo playing in the living room all the time but it sounds fine to me…no real need for better/fancier equipment. I’ve got the PS2 hooked up all clever and fancy now…and the games I have are fine, why get another? There was nothing I really “needed”…and as it turned out…nothing I really “wanted” either.

I suppose this comes back to the huge amount of mental projects I’ve got going on (Lego Star Destroyer that is sitting in the box in my room, the Subaru GL-10 that is sitting in the barn up at the farm, the giant box of computer bits and pieces sitting in the garage as my PC gets dustier, etc etc). Why buy some cool new toy when I’ve got all these other things I could play with?

What it all comes down to is that I don’t want to spend money on anything new/cool right now. I’ve got all kinds of cool stuff around here to fiddle with. Sure a new TV, speakers, video card, shoes, dress pants, whatever would be nice…I don’t need any of those things (maybe some clothes…but I’m waiting to see if my sizes change at all due to my experiment). I don’t need anything…and for (perhaps) the first time in my life…I went to one of the greatest toy stores of all…and bought nothing.

But WOW am I hungry now. So I’ll go eat.

PS: I saw that last night (and this morning) I got a couple people diving deep into my site. They read pages, downloaded videos, and generally spent a ton of time looking around. How cool…I wonder who they were? Actually, I know who one of them was. Isn’t technology cool? I thought about playing a little joke on them…posting some funny made up story to see how they’d react…but I changed my mind. I’d rather make ‘em sweat a little by posting this (if they read it). In summary…I know who is reading my site…and I think it’s hilarious…woot!

Lately…I’ve been feeling crappy. Physically crappy that is. I’m not sure if it has been some increased stress from work (things are a bit complex there…but not really bad per say), this annoying Spring (I do love warm weather…but the heavy rains before created nasty allergies), some personal stuff (stupid women…75% over that crap) or whatever…or a combo…etc.

And I’ve been reading this book (I mentioned that before). And today I watched “Super Size Me”. Considering my career choice it’s probably something I should have watched/read a long time ago.

So this is my 30 day experiment.

-No food of questionable origins. This is rather tough to nail down specifically…what is “questionable origins” anyway? With my food educational background I am defining it as “any food that I am completely clueless about what the ingredients are”. For 30 days I want to know exactly what it is I am putting into my body. This means absolutely nothing that I cannot (and have not) see the ingredients list for. This will make eating out a bit dificult. Going to a burrito place and asking (what, exactly, are all the ingredients in your quacamole? your sauce? where does your cheese come from and may I see the food label?). This is going to force me to A) cook at home much more and B) eat at places where the ingredients are easy to figure out. Thank god I work at a restaurant! But this means goodby McDonalds…that’s for sure…and Rockstar…sigh!
-No ingredients that I cannot define myself. Sure…I can pick up a can of Sierra Mist and read the label…but hell if I know what calcium disodium EDTA is. Of course I could look it up fairly easily but I want this experiment to be based soley off current knowledge. Again this will cause some dificulty I’m sure as there are lots of things which I don’t know…but I think I can handle it. This INCLUDES high fructose corn syrup…which will be EXTREMELY dificult to avoid. Trust me on this…I’ve been looking at labels.
-No smoking. Ah…now this is the kicker. Smoking is something I am definitively addicted to. With this current awful allergy season it is absolutely killing me…congested + smoke = hard time breathing, very stuffed up, feeling very crappy. I “feel” I am “ready” to quit smoking but I don’t know if I can do it right now. So I am going to give it 30 days…test out the waters so to speak. I’m not promising to “quit”…I’m just promising to “take a break”. Ow…

-Have at least 30 minutes of exercise daily. Again…a bit more dificult to define. But since this is my experiment I can make all the rules. So I am defining 30 minutes of exercise as “30 consecutive minutes of elevated heart rate due to physical activity”. This could mean taking a walk for half an hour, 30 minutes of yard work (not watering the lawn mind you…but seriously moving about getting that heart rate up), or (of course) 30 minutes of “working out” (traditional stuff…sit-ups, push-ups, weights, yada).

I could be all ultra scientific about this…take pictures, measure and quantitate, use scales and graphs and all that jazz…but I’m going to keep it very simple. I’m going to go use the old scale sitting in the garage and…well…look at myself in the mirror. Gimmie a minute…

I weigh in at 176 lbs on our (probably innacurate) scale. Physically I look skinny up top, hairy as fuck, and my stomach is getting fat. Physically I feel mildly tired, my mouth and noes are itchy (stupid allergies).

When I wake up tomorrow I’ll start this new plan. I’m rather curious how it’ll turn out. Wish me luck!

I’ll try to update my observations daily…but I make no promises.

I may end up posting quite a lot about this book (Omnivore’s Dilemma) but as I said before it is having a profound impact during a rather introspective point in my life.

Today I went to Costco to get new tires for the truck.  Holy crap did it need them too.  A couple Sunday’s ago, when it was still raining heavily, I was driving from Santa Cruz to Blackhawk for work.  That was not an easy drive.  My front tires were so extremely bald that changing lanes was no longer an option…the suspension in that thing is so light, the tires so bald and the rear end so lively that a simple lane-change resulted in annoying understeer -> ubrupt oversteer -> terrifying understeer -> settle settle please settle…and relax.

I’m all for having a little fun while driving but that was more terror than I like to put myself through.

Yeah…that was a bit ago and it’s not until today that I got new tires…call me lazy…fuck off.

Anyway…why is Costco so damn crowded on Friday?  I got there around 12:30 and the place was PACKED.  The parking lot…the lines inside…everything was so full of people.

I couldn’t stay long inside.  It was…bothering me.  The massive piles of crap…super sized crap…it was almost painful to see.

I am a consumer.  I like buying things…fun things, useful things, consumable things, tasty things…buying in general.  I’ve been to Costco many times and bought many giant piles of things I really didn’t need a giant pile of.

This time really struck a chord though.  I didn’t like it.

I was stuck there for 2.5 hours for the tire replacement (damn I wish I could do that myself).  I went inside the store for a bit but quickly left.  I sat out in the sun, made some calls, sneezed 324 times and realized I was hungry.  I bought this sandwich thing…chunked chicken breast with cheese and bacon bits inside a soft cheese covered baked roll.  It was “tasty” but made me sad.  It made me sad because I could FEEL how bad it was for me…and at the same time definitely enjoyed the flavor.  Sitting outside on a curb eating it…the melted cheese dripping onto my shoe…watching some extremely and disgustingly overweight people pushing overloaded carts full of high fructose corn syrup and heavily processed 400 year shelf life super sized insto-meals didn’t help either.  It felt…wrong.  I felt as if I had stepped far away from the lifestyle that leads to happiness.  I didn’t see one smile.

I don’t want to sound too self-righteous here…but this shit has GOT to stop.  No…I’m not going to fire-bomb Costco…nor write my congressman (congresswoman…sorry ma’am).  I am going to focus on a far more healthy and sustainable lifestyle here…for me.
Costco may have gotten me some great cheap tires…but that place is, in a word, gross.

I heard about this book listening to NPR the other day. It is a story about food divided into three sections…the first is about “industrial” food production, the second “organic” and the third “hunter/gatherer”.

I must say it is quite insightful, and pretty damn shitty. I’m not going to go into the heavy details of what I’ve been learning for two main reasons. One, it would be extremely complex and dificult to summarize this whole giant book into my simple typing. I just don’t want to…plus you really ought to read it yourself. Two, although I am sure it is very factual and accurate…it also (in my educated opinion) a bit “extreme”. The author is definitely giving an accurate portrayal of the food industry but at the same time his word choice leans more on the far end of the spectrum.

This book is poiniant for a very simple reason…I am in bad shape. What I mean to say is…I am not as healthy as I ought to be. I smoke way too much, do not get enough exercise and generally feel pretty crappy about my well-being. Granted this is hard-core allergy season (and I’m suffering due to it)…I still feel (and believe I look) worse than I ought to.

The hardest thing here is to quit smoking. Just thinking about it (and I do a lot these days because I can honestly say that it’s weighing heavily on my mind) makes me cringe a touch. I haven’t stopped…but each one I light up is really bothering me.

Plus…something pretty crappy happened this past Friday. It didn’t happen to me…it happened to someone I know and care dearly for. They didn’t die, or get hurt…but through a foolish and childish act they got themselves into a world of trouble. I respect this person a HELL of a lot but at the same time I see the road they’ve gone down and I do NOT want to end up on the same path. It is very important to me that I don’t.

This weekend is going to be a gnarly one. It’s Mother’s Day and that means the busiest day of the year for the restaurant. I’m stressing over it a bit, but not to the point where I’m freaked out. But I am going to let it serve as a turning point for me…the last day of…rather…a new day of a new era.

Yes that above sounds a bit fatalistic and all that…but it’s time I do more for myself.

And what better day than May 15th? It is…after all…Monday. Whatever that means.

First of all…it is impossible to get in touch with Yahoo on the phone. They don’t like that it seems. So I filled out the forms and got an email from them with very specific instructions. They want some information from me from when I created that account. That was in 1998. Hell if I know what my “alternate” email address was!

So I made a bunch of guesses and none of ‘em turned out exactly right.

Now…Yahoo wants me to physically mail them…including a photocopy of a photo ID! Crazy huh?

I’m going to do it…get access to my Yahoo account…get everything up to date…and never use it again.

What a pain in the ass!

It’s now 11:15 on Thursday, April 13th 2006 (which is probably indicated when I post this…but hey, I’m all about repeating things).

And I’m in my room, desk light on, laying in bed doing some research on how to rip a DVD onto a computer. I’ve got a couple movies that I got from students when I was at Les Roches so I’ve been thinking about putting some of my movies on…

Whatever.

What a terribly boring post for Birthday Eve. Seriously…shouldn’t I be talking about something far more fun? Like presents, parties, friends, family…expectations, resolutions, plans, reflections? Something far more grand and promising then “gee, I really would love to be able to watch Initial D on my computer without popping in the disk.”

The thing is I’m kinda distracted these days. Sure I’ve got lots going on…this whole work thing for example, my list of possible posts…and to add to that list…

-List of Things Neil Needs to do Before he Dies

-Massive posting of pictures from the farm

-The lunacy that is www.nasioc.com Off Topic

-Good sources for free porn

-List of cool websites that are fun to screw around with

blah blah blah…

But what I’m going to type next is something that has been on my mind for a while now. I’m 31 (32 in about 38 minutes) and I’m single. I’m really seriously single…and have been for a looong time now. Yeah I’ve dated a bit and had some fun…but it’s been a long time since I’ve been involved in anything truly serious. Now…that isn’t to say I haven’t been “involved” with anyone. Just not “truly seriously” involved. I’ve got this really fucking annoying habit of getting “involved” with women through this glorious medium we like to call “the internet”. Sometimes it’s something I pursue, sometimes it’s something that happens without any real effort. And this last time…man, what a jacked up situation that was. Hell…I’m still recovering from this. I’m not going to go into the deep details here but I was nuts about her, she was nuts about me and all of a sudden (it seems), it totally crapped out. Yes yes shame on me for falling for something this unreal but SHIT it sure as hell FELT real. Perhaps that’s a product of my season online-e-ness? That it’s just comfortable and easy for me to get all hot and heavy over someone from the net? Perhaps. Hell if I know.

I know I’m just not quite over it…I put in a lot of time and effort. And time and effort is the only thing that will help it pass.

And yes…oh yes…I’m sure it’ll pass…especially when I fucking stop dwelling on it. That is clear.

But when it’s 30 minutes away from your birthday, and you are alone at home…these sort of things just pop into your mind. And that is frustrating.

Things could be worse however. I’ve got a great job that is becoming better daily. I’ve got a family that cares tremendously about me. I’ve got money in the bank. I’ve got some cool shit coming up in my life. I’ve got a group of friends I know are there for me.

I just miss…you know. That other stuff.

Tomorrow will be another day. Maybe another gloriously sunshine filled day.

We shall see…won’t we?

Happy Birthday to me.

And Kristin…if you ever do read this…I want you to know, on this day, on this hour…I still wish you the best.

So here is the deal…I’ve actually got several thousand things to talk about. Almost every night while I’m laying in bed I think a bit about what I should post here…what it is I should share…and here are a couple ideas…

-The gourmet dinner at the farm complete with many pictures

-The re-building and modification of the pachenko ball machine (JDM tyte yo!)

- The plans for the Subaru GL-10 (rally school is June 10th!!)

- What is happening at work (good, bad and ugly)

- The remodeling of the house in Lafayette

- Thoughts on life (including some personal crapola)

- Invasion of the Homeless Cats (with video!)

- The Lego Star Destroyer (in the mail…22 lbs of Lego glory)

- How To Make An External HD Enclosure Work

- Tips and Tricks for Restaurant Patrons (aka How To Be A Good Customer)

- How Neil, with his thousands of silly projects…has absolutely no concrete and acceptable social life

So as you can all plainly see there is a lot to cover here…and really I should just open a couple beers, sit down, and write until I can write now more.

PS: My Dakota stereo install and my dad’s stories are showing up on Google now…and he’s actually gotten an email from someone who found his timer instructions and found them very helpful. That was pretty damn cool.

So there it is…enjoy.