Monthly Archive for August, 2007

While it’s nice to only spend $40 a month on gasoline, today I received the news I was hoping for.  We have health clinics on campus this time of year, and one’s cholesterol, BMI, glucose, and some other things are checked.  My total cholesterol level dropped 50 points to 123!  My blood pressure has also dropped, I’ve lost weight, and my BMI is lower.

More importantly, I feel better.  I have more energy (when I sleep enough, but that’s another deal) and I’ve found some of my friends saying, “Slow down,” when we walk anywhere.  I’m also able to ride my bike further without getting as tired.  Today I rode for about 25 miles, and while I could tell I was wearing out a little near the end, it was far less than, say, a month ago where I’d be pushing myself for a longer time to make it home.

This is just the beginning.  Next, I need to focus on a better diet.  While I have already changed what I eat, such as having salad for lunch rather than, say, pizza or some other quick-grab thing, and virtually eliminating all pop (soda) from my diet, I still have more to go.  I continue to eat out a lot, and skip breakfast.  Amazing, breakfast.  I found that when I ate breakfast, such as an apple or a banana, or a bowl of oatmeal, I had the most weight loss.

I have to admit, the salad bar has been a key component in all this.  The salads I make are quite tasty (for me, anyway) which is also the bad part.  While I have lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, a little ham and turkey, and sometimes green olives, I then ruin it with some cheese and regular ranch dressing.  I do resist adding the bacon bits, at least, and it’s better than pizza or fried chicken.  I can do better here, though, such as taking red lettuce (and whatever else that’s mixed with) rather than iceberg, add broccoli, and swap to the fat-free ranch (although I can’t stand the taste).

Let’s see how much more progress I can make.  And for those that know me very very well, yes, I’m still going to eat pizza.

Last post I alluded to having my digital entertainment accessible all from one place.  I already have the base technology here, but I haven’t used it to this extent, because it wasn’t available.

A week ago I ordered my first manufactured desktop PC.  All my laptops over the years are from Dell, but every PC I own is one I built myself.  Well, except that Radio Shack TRS-80 many, many years ago, but technically I didn’t own that one, my parents did.  Anyway, on order is a Velocity Micro Media Center PC with CableCard support.  While my desktop was running Windows Vista Ultimate, and I did use it as a Media Center for my music and pictures, I wanted cable TV support, which is only available from specific OEMs.  It’s time to hand Comcast their cable boxes back and stop paying the rental fee.  By using my Xbox 360s as Media Center Extenders, I can access the cable TV throughout my home (which is especially nice as I’ll have DVR upstairs now) without the need for multiple boxes (and rental fees).

What prompted this?  Comcast is moving us from our current cable box software to a new one.  That features more ads.  (I could be wrong, it might not have more ads, but if this matches the majority of the country’s cable box experience, it will.)  Sorry, but I think my cable bill is plenty high; I shouldn’t be required to supplement that by staring at advertisements when navigating the cable box menus and programming guide.  Even if it might have ads for special features I might be interested in.  Besides, I’ll gain a prettier guide and nicer experience from Media Center than what my cable boxes provide.  It’s a move I wanted to make for a long time – the new guide (with potentially more ads) is the tipping factor in the go / no go decision on this.

Television was the last piece of the puzzle that was missing from my home media experience.  Now, cable television, videos, music, pictures, instant messaging, and video games are all accessible from one device.  Finally.  Plus, I can plug in my Zune, sync up most of that, and take it with me.

This is but one part of a massive change in my home network design.  Once I get things set up and finalized, I’ll post about my setup in case you’re curious what I’ve done.

Now if you were fully paying attention a few paragraphs ago, you’ll note I said “While my desktop was running Windows Vista Ultimate….”  So what’s it running now?  Well, if you know where I hang out online, you already know the answer, which is…