Day 4 228 lbs

Posted on March 29, 2012 by secchione9

I’m used to daily fluctuations. It’s pretty normal. Today is a bit of a disappointment though. I usually drop 3 pounds in a workout, which means that this morning I was hovering at 231 lbs, which isn’t great. Probably has everything to do with what I ate for dinner. Indian. I love rice, but I limited myself to 2/3 of a cup, which was probably too much. Should have gone for 1/2 or 1/3 instead. Lots of chicken and veggies, but the Indian sauces I ordered have a cream base, and mixing that with hot chutney probably bound things up a bit. Also, I haven’t been drinking the water I should. The good news is that after my late lunch I was still able to control my appetite.

Day 3 226 lbs

Posted on March 28, 2012 by secchione9

My only problem so far has been to wait too long to eat. I do much better at this when I am consistently eating snacks between meals. Snacks for me means carrots, gum, apples, bananas, protein shakes, but something. This morning I just had a shake for breakfast, then I didn’t eat again until noon, and about 11:30 the suffering started. Shaking, feeling funky, wanting to eat everything, especially sweets. Not fun.

But, I’m living large and going to ride my bike on some errands. I’ll probably update later…

Day 2 225 lbs

Posted on March 27, 2012 by secchione9

5 pounds yesterday to today? Two things: water and digestion. I figure I’m flushing out a whole lotta inflammation, my digestion is going to improve, and so this big bump right at the first is to be expected, but not necessarily to be sustained over time. I’ve read and heard enough to know that excess carbs=excess inflammation. I think I’m just seeing the effects of the first day without grains.

The only hard part so far? Dinner and after. Rebecca had nachos for us last night for dinner. I love nachos. I make my own pile of chips and cheese and goodness and throw it in the broiler, usually. Last night I had a bowl of taco meat and cheese, tomatoes, and a salad. It was good, and filling, and it worked out fine, but not easy.

Today, bacon and Lepterra for breakfast, a boxed protein shake at 6:30am post workout, and I’m planning a nice chicken salad for lunch, carrots and gum for snacks. I think it will all turn out great.

Day 1 of the Challenge 230 lbs

Posted on March 26, 2012 by secchione9

There are two versions of Tyler. One is skinny, athletic, and energetic. The other is fat, lethargic, and tired. Throughout the last ten years the two versions have been fighting for my body. One version, and I’ll let you guess which, loves pizza, pastries, chocolate, ice cream, pasta, bread, AND will eat just about anything healthy. The other version likes to feel good and be healthy. For the last five years the skinny version has been winning the fight, but this winter I have packed on about 15 pounds more than I am comfortable with. I don’t like it when the pants I recently bought don’t fit anymore on the waist. It’s no fun when my gut is protruding so much my shirts don’t lay flat any more. And I really don’t like that my neck and head are disappearing in to each other. It’s not like I’m a blob, I excercise rigorously between 3-5 times a week at a Wasatch Crossfit, among the other initiatives I have to stay healthy, but apparently my diet has been surpassing my body’s ability to use the calories I’m feeding it. I’m not terribly surprised…I’ve recently started rewarding myself with double chocolate cookies from the Barnes and Noble cafe between the office and the train station…not a great weight loss idea.

This brings us to today. I know that the Paleo diet is good. I have seen the difference it has made with friends over at Wasatch, but until yesterday my love of pasta and bread and sweets was stronger than my desire to get skinny and reduce inflammation. To that end I am going to see if my will to be healthy is stronger than my appetite. I like to think I am the master of my body. We’re going to find out if that is true or if I lie to myself.

Today is day 1 of a 90 day challenge only about diet. Do I have the self control to eat my version of Paleo for 90 days with no cheat meals at all? Let’s find out together.

Rules of the game:

No eating bread, pasta, cereal or sugar laden sweets.
Increased consumption of vegetables, meat, and fruits.
Dairy is allowed but milk is allowed only in limited quantities. The object of the game is to lose weight.
The only grain I am going to consume over the next 90 is half a cup of sugar free homemade granola per day if desired, and one serving or less per week of rice. I will be filling in the rest of the carb need with veggies and a little bit of fruit.
Low/no sugar protein shakes are allowed.
Weigh in daily and post comments daily.
Post measurements weekly.
Gum chewing is allowed.

I’m not going to be changing anything else that I do. Same workout schedule. Same sleep schedule. Same everything. The only change I am going to make is diet.

Today I weighed in at 230 lbs. I’m 6′ 3/4″. That puts me at least 30 lbs over weight according to the charts, and probably back in the “severly obese” category. I certainly don’t look obese, but charts don’t lie, right? The chart says my target weight should be 171 lbs. I haven’t weighed that little since high school, so I will be satisfied with 200 lbs, estatic with 185 lbs.

Measurements:
Neck 17″
Chest 45″
Waist 42″
Bicep 13 3/4″
Thigh 25 1/2″
Calf 17″
Glutius Maximus 44″

My comments so far…well, not bad so far. I need to get to the store to get some supplies so I have something to eat. but it’s 3PM and I haven’t craved too hard yet. I’m sure I will. When I have done this before I usually detox for about 3-4 days, but I can mitigate any real harsh effects with lots of water and exercise, so that is the obvious plan. I’m chewing fruity sugar free gum after a lunch of salad, dried blueberries, feta, sliced almonds and craisins. I only had vinegar for salad dressing because I used the last of the oil on the dinner I made last night. I’m optimistic. We don’t have any more birthdays in the immediate future, Rebecca is on board with me and has been sugar free for coming up on a year, so I have a good support system in place. The only hard parts will be when I am alone at the store and craving ice cream or when I am at a family dinner and Teresa makes brownies or something. I am good as long as I don’t eat one. If I cheat, I lose all self control. If I can refuse, I’m usually just fine. I used to say, “No thanks, I’m good.” and believed it. And it worked pretty good. I’m sure I’ll be trying it again this time. Hopefully it will carry me through.

Above all, I’m relying on heaven’s help. My father had his first major heart attack in his mid fifties, my brother has been on BP meds for a decade and my sister has struggled with it for a while now. I’d like to be able to run and jump and chase my kids around and my grandkids without a walker or without taking nitro when my chest gets tight like I watched my dad do, so I need all the help I can get. Besides, anything I’ve ever done well, I’ve done with heaven’s help.

update

Cravings 0 Tyler 1!

Thanking the makers of the no sugar Lepterra shake. I’m going to be fine.

I’m Tired of the NBA

Posted on October 16, 2011 by secchione9

I’ve been a basketball fan for a long time and follow my local team as much as I can. And I’m so tired of reading anything related to the NBA lockout that I just might boycott the NBA altogether.

The owners and players are fighting about splitting 4 billion dollars a year in revenue. The union says they are making concessions, the owners say they are losing money. To someone who works what feels like ten part time jobs to make ends meet while I continue to look for a meaningful and equitable position with a company I would like to be associated with, the bickering about 4 billion dollars seems like a lot of crap to me.

I think I’ll find a new sport. One that doesn’t pay its players millions of dollars per year. So, at this point, NBA, it’s not me. It’s you. I’m tired of your crap. We’re breaking up. I just want to enjoy myself for a couple of hours per week watching the aggression of sports.

Who knows. I might end up a lacrosse fan.

No Wonder the World Hates America

Posted on October 14, 2011 by secchione9

I lived overseas for a couple of years in Italy, and, in general, Italians like Americans, but there were moments where we were yelled at, told to go home, and generally harassed, and this in a country that is our ally!

I’ve finally embraced an honest and truthful outlook on our reputation as Americans and have come to some pretty solid conclusions. Let’s first take a historical perspective.

Prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve, the federal income tax and the decades long move away from a gold standard for the dollar, the government didn’t have an easy means of funding wars. Prior to those events, if the government wanted to conduct a war, it had to raise funding through suspension of the gold standard and printing more money, through war bonds (which was less effective), borrow money from foreign countries, or create new taxes. All of which were unpopular. In the vein of never letting a good crisis go to waste, the administrations in the early 1900′s used the wild market swings and the Great Depression to hustle in these new policies that eventually would let them conduct continual wars against other countries. After WWII we have Korea, Vietnam, problems with the Iran/Contra, Somalia, adventures with the U.N. on “peacekeeping” missions, Iraq I, Afghanistan, Iraq II, Libya, targeted missile strikes in Yemen, and black ops assassinations in Pakistan, among all of the other things our military is doing overseas.

For just a minute, let’s do what Jesus would and put ourselves in the shoes of these other nations. And let’s go backwards from now…

If the government of Yemen sent an unmanned drone and blew up a target, say in Montana, we the people of America would call that an act of war. We would immediately call for a retaliation against Yemen. Denigrating cartoons would be the rage and JibJab would make a new viral video depicting us blowing up Yemen. Politicians would take the stage and appeal to all of our love for country and God to go blow these people up, even if it meant we would lose American lives in the mean time. And we would do it…

Imagine if the government of Pakistan believed there was an enemy of their state inside our borders, one who had done real destruction to their country, but that they didn’t trust us to take care of for them. Instead of telling us what they were doing, in this scenario they send a squad of their military personnel in to Orange County in a helicopter, land it, kill the guy, blow up the helicopter and find another ride out. Then they come out and tell the world they got their man and how they did it. If this happened, we the people would instantly revile Pakistan and they would be our mortal enemies. How dare they take matters in to their own hands?! We wouldn’t stand for it for a minute!

Imagine with me, a militarily superior Iraq with Saddam at the head. Imagine that he starts pushing for invading America because the head of our government (let’s pretend it is Bush II) is an evil dictator who needs to be deposed to make way for peace in the world. How dare America have a nuclear arsenal?! They build more and more sophisticated weapons every year! We need to invade to make the world a safer place! Right? And then Iraq comes over and invades America, and eventually succeeds in taking the eastern sea board, getting rid of our President and government. What would we do? We would take up arms and fight the invasion! Anyone old enough to hold a gun would have one and we would FIGHT!

I could go on. Regardless if Saddam was a bad person (which he was) and should have moved on, regardless if bin Laden was in Pakistan and should have been captured or killed (which he should have been), the end does not justify the means if we do not also want to create more reputation problems in the rest of the world. Our reputation management has been to assert our dominance, to assert our exceptionalism, and increase the American empire. We have over 300 military bases in 170 countries. Tell me that isn’t an empire. Tell me that our military presence in the world isn’t meant to ONLY protect our financial interests world wide. No wonder people all over the world want to kill us. It’s easy to find other people to recruit to your cause when you have an easy target like the American empire. I’m not offering a critique of foreign policy except to say no wonder we are hated. If any other country did to us what we have done and do to them, we’d hate them too. Maybe it’s time to close those bases and bring our military back home. Maybe it’s time to return to a nation of peace where we let other countries sort out their own messes while we sort out our own. Or maybe we should take a lesson from the Brits for once and let go of American imperialism before the empire burns.

Bid2Buy, Swoopo, Dubli, and NitroBids Scam Their Customers

Posted on September 14, 2010 by secchione9

I found some more of these offensive sites. In the future I’ll post a list of them as they come up…

Bid2Buy (who has since gone out of business), Swoopo, Dubli, and NitroBids are all scamming their customers. They offer a chance to buy things, and you think you might get a great deal, while they are raking in the cash.

The system is pretty simple, a little difficult to get your head around for a minute, but then absolutely brilliant in an evil-trying-to-take-over-the-world kind of way. And they all make me think, “Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.”

Here’s how they all work:

They put something up on an “auction”. Let’s say it’s an iPod Nano. Retail for a 16 GB Nano is $179. These sites put up the Nano starting at $0. Then, they open the bidding. Bidding doesn’t work in a classic sense where you can say what you are willing to pay and then buy it if that price is agreeable to the seller. Instead, each time you bid the price goes up a penny. Then, when the timer runs out, if you are the one that made the last bid, you can buy the Nano at the price that you last bid it up to. Here’s the catch: each bid costs you somewhere between 50 cents and a dollar. Let’s start doing the math…lets say 500 people bid on the Nano and one person wins the auction and pays $5 for it.

-$179 for the iPod

$500 for 500 bids

$5 for the winning bid

______________

$326 PROFIT

And this is a poor example. They made almost three times the profit on this auction because they spread the cost of the bids out over a number of people. So you might spend a couple of bucks, and your neighbor, and some other people, but ultimately only one person gets the bid, and that sucks. Three times the profit?!! Come on…

Lets look at some live examples on each of those sites right now…

This is from Swoopo.

If bids cost $.60 and there were 2844 bids placed on that iPhone, which retails for $299 (which they say is an $850 value – how did they decide it was worth 850?), then Swoopo made $1706.40 in bids, but paid $299 for the phone, which ends up being $1407.40 in profit. Sick! And not in a cool sick kinda way, but in a blood sucking kind of way.

This is a recent from Dubli. The math is almost as ugly.

This one is even sicker. Dubli bids are $1. 9300 bids were made. So they made $9100 on a $200 gift card??!!!

Here are a couple from Nitrobids:

The Blu-Ray player they only netted $60, so not terrible, but the second….holy cow. They had 4250 bids, so they cleared $3,294.50 on the iPad.

That’s why I think these should be illegal. I think reverse bids and penny auctions and the like should all be considered gaming and by gaming I mean gambling. There is very little difference between gambling on cards and bidding on an iPad…you never know if you are going to be the last bidder, you never know if they don’t have dummy accounts set up to bid against you so they never even have to sell the item, they rake in huge dollars on other people’s retail prices, and they don’t offer any redeemable value to any community. I wouldn’t be surprised if this kind of thing created a real addiction, similar to a gambling habit, with people buying thousands and thousands of bids, trying to win an auction, but never really winning anything great outside of once in a while to keep them reeled in.

Shame on everyone who does this kind of website. It’s unethical and wrong, and should be illegal.

Tradia is a Scam

Posted on September 14, 2010 by secchione9

I saw this on a designer’s site today.

Tradia is a colossal time and money-waster. You’ll do much better to stick with eBay and PayPal. We signed up thinking it would be a good way to garner local customers for our hosting business, but at the end of the day Tradia appears to be little more than an outlet for random odds-and-ends that you typically find in the back of a Ross discount outlet. Basically you’ll end up trading real work in exchange for the opportunity to purchase mismatched towels and musical dolls.

Still, I wouldn’t be complaining here except that now we’re trying to cancel our account and they are being asshats about it. They won’t accept an email cancellation, instead they are insisting we fax them a signed document (which they don’t have a form for) to terminate our account. I love retro, but frankly the 90′s hasn’t come round again just yet, so I’m fresh out of facsimile machines and I get annoyed thinking about driving to a Kinkos to send them what amounts to a photocopy of a scribble on a blank piece of paper. It stinks of “delay tactic”.

Even Tradia members are finding out that their system does nothing.

What I Hate About Nitrobids.com and other dutch auctions…

Posted on August 23, 2010 by secchione9

If you are looking at this post, it is because you are doing some comparison shopping or trying to find out more information about Nitrobids.com or dubli or any of the other dutch auction sites. Here’s the skinny and why I think they are sneaky, sly, and should be put out of business: they are deceptive.

Here’s how it works at nitrobids.com.

You have two choices, nitrobids or bid2buy.

Nitrobids are auctions that start at $0 and increase by a penny every time someone bids. Each bid resets a timer on an undisclosed amount of time, and if you happen to be the last person that bid when the timer expires, you win the auction and can buy the product for the listed price, which should be much lower than the retail price.

Here’s where it gets sneaky: you pay for every bid you use. In the best case scenario for you, you pay $.57 for every bid, worst case $1.

Let’s start doing some math. If an auction for a Nike + iPod kit (live as I write this) retails for $29, and the current auction price that you can “buy” it for is $1.40, that means that 140 bids have been placed on that item from the beginning of the auction until now. So, every bid, spread out over how many people, has generated between $.57 and $1 per bid. Worst case scenario, Nitrobids.com has just made at least, AT LEAST, $79 on that item, which has a retail price of $29.

So, yeah, you might win, and you might be able to buy it for $1.40, but the truth is nitrobids.com is cleaning house with this method of auction.

Worse yet, there is absolutely no transparency. They don’t say how long the timer lasts They don’t allow you to buy the item for a specified price. You never know how many people have bid on the item, or if their software is bidding against you. You never know whether or not you are going to win the item at the price you want. They don’t provide any clarity on what they are doing. And what they are doing could be considered illegal gaming. Dubli.com is facing class action lawsuits because of the deceptive nature of what they do.

Then the second kind of auction, the bid2buy, is the same thing, but in reverse. The auctions start at a retail price, and then go down one penny per bid, and it costs the same to bid on each auction as the other.

There is an iPad that finished the auction at $456.50 on the site right now. The auction started at $499. Let’s do the math again…

If the price went down $42.50, then there were 4,250 bids on the iPad…. which means at WORST case nitrobids.com made $2,422.50 from the bids PLUS the $456.50. On a $499 iPad nitrobids.com clears, WORST CASE SCENARIO, a cool $2,300, and only one person got to take it home, while hundreds of people may have “bid” on it. Nitrobids probably clears something like $4,000 on an auction like this…for something worth $499 on the open market. Is this right? Ethical? Moral? Legal? Certainly not the first three, but the legality of it has yet to be tested.

What makes me sick about Nitrobids.com is that I know one of the owners. And he seems like a decent guy…but come on people, this is a scam through and through. If you want to gamble, go to Vegas, I bet your odds of winning are better there than on Nitrobids.com.

Farmer’s Market

Posted on June 19, 2010 by secchione9

It’s been a while. If I weren’t on the train now I wouldn’t have time, even now. Rebecca and I went to the Farmer’s Market this morning in Salt Lake. Pizza for breakfast, meandering, temple square for a bit. Biking around the Gateway. I haven’t had this much leisure time in years. No kids too, they’re with Gramma. Now it’s midday and we aren’t supposed to pick up the kids yet. What are we going to do with ourselves?