WordPress from iPhone

As you can see from my last post, it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged. With my newborn daughter at home, my son in town for the summer, and a new position at work it’s been very hard to get online for anything non-work related. A few weeks ago the clouds parted and a light from heaven came down to my open hand leaving behind the Holy Grail. Ok so the light was from the Apple sign and the Grail was actually an iPhone 3GS…but u get the idea.

Few things have positively impacted my life as much as this new gadget. It does what I want it to without having to think about it. Intuitive is an understatement. With over 65,000 apps, I am constantly finding new tools to help me do whatever it is I need to do. For example, right this second I am holding my daughter in one arm, watching my sons in karate class, and writing this blog in the WordPress app that was free on my iPhone. What’s not to love. Look for some new blogs from me any time I get the urge to multitask.

Vitamin D linked to Mental Illness?!? That explains it

My 30-year project

I read a great article about how Vitamin D deficiencies (lack of sunlight) are linked to mental illness.  That made me start thinking…my cubicle-farm J.O.B. is driving me crazy…LITERALLY!!!  It all makes sense now.  People back in the Little House on the Prairie days used to all work outside in the sun (come on now half-pint…you know you used to watch it).  Now we are herded into our 6×6 cubicle from sun-up to sun-down and they wonder why people are always on edge and stressed out.  Hmmm, I think I just may have to do a 30-year study on working out in the sun.  Anyone care to fund my project?

Does a magic kiss from mom really heal?

I was listening to an old CD this week on my long commute to work from my new home.  Optimistically, I get 45 minutes of quality audio-book or audio-course time.  Of course on days that I am driving my 7 year old to school we opt for the local country station…but I digress.

The CD was from one of Anthony Robbins courses and it included an interview with Deepak Chopra.  Deepak spoke of studies that were done in which people were given stimulants but told they were barbituits.  Not only did the person behave like he was on barbituits, but his body reacted like he was on barbituits.  Apparently whatever the mind thinks is real the body reacts to.  He also said there were people that were given a placebo and told it was a powerful chemo drug for cancer and their hair started falling out and gums started bleeding and everything.

This made me think about children.  When a child gets hurt or falls down, what is the parents reaction?  “Come here I’ll kiss it and make it better”.  Us adults laugh at the naive nature of the children, but if what Deepak says is true, then that kiss by the parent IS really making that boo boo better.  And the difference between that kiss being an ordinary kiss and a magic kiss all comes down to sales. 

What are your thoughts on this?  If you didn’t know, that’s what my comments section is for.  ;-P

Kettlebell Training

I’ve been doing a bit of research and have been seeing a lot of good info on kettlebell training.  Look for a series of posts that will delve into the little-known world of kettlebells.  In the meantime, check out this article!

Caffeine: A retailer’s best friend

I have said many times awhile back that Starbucks was a great business plan. Once it became “cool” to drink coffee Starbucks and other coffee shops started springing up all over the place. And why not? After all, once people started to drink coffee drinks it would no longer be a luxury…it would become a NECESSITY!

Coming from someone who “quit the coffee” a few times and am still off of it today, I know that caffeine is a drug. Every time I quit drinking it I had to go through a week or two (or three the first time) with severe withdrawal symptoms. Migraine-level headaches that hurt worse just walking into a bright room; cold-sweats; nausea; and the urge where “I gotta have just a 1/2 of a cup….COME ON MAN…I need it, you don’t understand”!.

But Starbucks never hit the whole market. Even when a handful of my friends were knocking back 3 or 4 lattes a day I had another handful of friends that couldn’t stand the taste of coffee.

Enter the energy drinks. Red Bull started becoming popular among the “geek” crowd, and when all of their competition realized that energy drinks were the “non-coffee-drinkers coffee”, new energy drinks popped up almost daily it seemed.

Since I quit the coffee, AND am working crazy hours, I fell prey to thinking I would just have an energy drink or two here and there to get me through the long work hours. One Amp here, one Monster there…what’s the harm?!? The harm is that I started feeling like I was drinking coffee again. By that I mean I would feel awake while I was drinking it and an hour later would feel like it was time to roll out my little rug for nap-time. I need something with sustained energy all day. No spikes, no drops. So my wife gives me a Vitamin Energy last night after a long day of moving to get me through the last 45 min drive back home. I loved it because it was by the makers of Vitamin Water so it had to be good. I decided to look it up today and couldn’t believe that the can had more caffeine in it than a double-shot at Starbucks. Ugggg.

And now for the “Duh” moment: I am telling my wife that I like the Vitamin Water (before I knew about the caffeine), and telling her that I need to find some more of that and her reply was “Why don’t you just take B6″. Genius! All of the good stuff that these energy drinks are trying to sell you on, you can just take as a vitamin. So when my energy is down I don’t have to look for some energy drink or coffee to boost me back up, I can just pick up some vitamins and have the sustained energy I’m looking for. And the bonus is that a 30 day supply cost about as much as a day’s worth of energy drinks.

Why we blame others

My son was on “yellow” today at school.  For those of you who don’t know, there is a daily discipline chart for 1st graders that uses the colors of a street-light to tell the parents if they were good (green), bad (red), or somewhere in between (yellow).   Back in my day they had a similar chart, but it was black and blue…and it was on your backside.  If you were bad your chart would be black and blue…but I digress.

I asked him why he was on yellow and immediately he started with “…well Johnny was the one who…”.  You get the idea.  I then asked him why every time I question him why he’s not on green his answer is always due to someone else.  Reply “…but it really was Johnny”.  This made me start thinking about whether blaming someone or something else is a learned trait, or are we born with this skill genetically imprinted in our brains the way that dogs know to eat grass when they aren’t feeling well.  And at what point do we realize we are doing it and stop it.

After thinking about this for a few minutes it dawned on me that I used this skill as recently as that same freaking hour!  Unbelievable!  My beautiful wife was getting on my case for the shotty paint job I did cutting-in on the walls at our new house.  Immediately I blamed it on the fact that I didn’t have the metal edge tool that I wanted to buy from Home Depot.  Then I deflected the blame over to the fact that I had taped it and the tape didn’t work.  Luckily my survival skills kicked in before I was able to shift the blame on her.

So why is it so blatantly obvious that my 7 year old is doing it, but oblivious to me that I am?  Anthony Robbins says it’s because everything we do in life is motivated by either avoiding pain or seeking pleasure.  Makes sense to me.

How do we stop it?  Bring it into the light.  Focus on it.  The next time you are backed into a corner try to recognize it and take responsibility.  In the above example I could have said “I’m sorry baby…I will try to put more effort into painting the next room”.

Now it’s your turn.  Think about how many fights will be stopped in their tracks if you start a new habit of accepting the blame.  For the next 14 days make it a personal challenge to seek out opportunities to accept the blame.  I’m positive that you will find some…well maybe not you Jesus…but the rest of us will.

I’m hooked on MINT! How refreshing

Thanks to a blog post from Tim Ferriss and Ramit Sethi, I’ve discovered this wonderful tool called Mint. Think of quicken or Microsoft Money…and now picture them actually being web-based and user friendly. Refreshing, huh. Now picture them being completely free!!!

It took me only a few minutes to create an account and setup my bank accounts and credit card accounts. Then I added my 401k, and loans. Last I added my rental properties and car. It’s that easy.

It automatically updates all of my accounts daily giving me a complete view of all of my finances. I even get emails and/or text messages telling me when bills are due or if I went over my budgets.

Best of all, it analyzes my bank accounts, and credit cards to see if my interest rates or fees are too high, and then recommends better ones.

Don’t take my word for it…check it out yourself. I get absolutely NOTHING for advertising this, so it should tell you how much I like it.

Don’t resist the resistance bands!

When I arrived tonight for my second shift of the day, I was greeted by a friend that took my advice and bought the T.O. Bands.  (Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Read this previous blog post, or click on the ad in the upper right corner of this page).

Now that he has them he will be starting one of the workout routines, and trying to stick to the diet as well.  I will be posting updates at least once a week on his progress.  FYI – I put the two 30 lb. bands on and couldn’t even do one standing bicep curl.  That rocks!!!

Have you tried working out with resistance bands yet?  If so, I would love to hear about your experiences.  Just leave a quick comment.

Sorry Blogosphere…Family First!!!

This will be a slow blogging week for me, as I have a couple life-changing events going on.  Today I closed on a new (read: new to me) home, and on Saturday I will be getting married to the girl of my dreams.  Between my new wife, her 7 year old son, my 12 year old son, two horses, a dog, and a turtle, I think our family is in for a great life ahead.  Oh, did I mention that our daughter will be making her first appearance into this world in early June?!?  Busy doesn’t quite paint the true picture…but you get the idea.  I will try to get in another post as soon as I can, but with family coming from all over the states I can’t promise it will be this week.  Until then you might see a tweet or two from me if you care to follow me on twitter.  On there I’m parisj13.

Until then…

Does this STRESS make me look fat?

Told ya it was from stress...now pass the donuts

Yes…it’s not the DRESS that is making you look fat…it’s the STRESS!

Research shows that your body does not distinguish between the stress of running from a bear or from trying to meet your boss’s unreasonable deadlines. To your body it’s ALL stress. To help you escape from that bear, your body will increase your heart rate, lower your sensitivity to pain, and increase the amount of Cortisol secreted by the adrenal glands. Cortisol, also known as “the stress hormone”, increases the flow of glucose, fat, and protein into your bloodstream to help with your fight or flight situation.

So Cortisol is good…if you are running from a bear. But if you are sitting in a cubicle all day, then this chronic stress can lead to fat around the abdomen. And this isn’t the ordinary “under the skin” fat. This is Visceral fat, which is the bad stuff that lead to heart attacks and strokes. This is why people have been saying “stress kills”.

Here’s the good news: Stress isn’t bad in spurts. It’s constant stress that’s the killer. So break up your stressful day by exercising. Get some resistance bands, like the ones in the upper right corner of this screen, and pull them out of your briefcase when you feel the stress mounting. After a couple quick sets you will feel the stress start melting away. If the boss man starts giving you flack about working out in your cubicle, take it outside! No, you Neanderthal, I didn’t mean punch him in the nose…go outside for a “smoke break”. If that loud mouth down the hall can take ten 7 minute smoke breaks a day I’m sure you can get away with one or two.

Don’t worry about your co-workers seeing you. Just send them to my blog and don’t be surprised if they aren’t out there joining you for a mini 7-minute workout session.