Goin' to the Rodeo

i grew up in a small country town called burkburnett, tx. growin' up in such an environment established the presence of the rodeo in my life. the only way i've ever participated in a rodeo was in the calf scramble as a kid. i thought it would be cool to try to ride a bull, but just never got around to it. i guess it is best to keep it that way.

anyway, tonight i'm going on a date to the mesquite championship rodeo, and i will be wearing my classic cowboy outfit. similar to the one here on your left. it's not very often i get to go all out in my cowboy clothes. i do wear my boots at least once a week, but the hat and tight jeans only come out for special occasions. such as a rodeo. this is only my third date with the girl i'm taking to the rodeo. i have warned her about what i'm wearing tonight, but i'm not sure if she fully ready for the shock value of me in my straw hat. i have never thought that i was ugly nor have i ever thought that i was all that attractive, but for some reason when i put on my hat i get a lot of attention and compliments. so of course i like to have a reason to wear my hat. i think i need to go try on my jeans now to make sure they still fit. i've gained about ten pounds since i last wore them, and i'm a bit afraid of the consequences. if you have never been to the rodeo i highly recommend goin' at least once. if not for anything other than the single most entertaining event, cowboy poker. i'll tell you how every goes later.

DANGER Will Robinson! DANGER!

on tuesday night when i arrived at my apartment. a domino's employee was selling medium pepperoni pizzas for $5. they have been doing this every tuesday for a couple of months now. though this past tuesday was my first time to take advantage of the offer.

i must admit that i love pizza. i enjoy buying the freschetta or digiorno pizza from the store or buying pizza from a restaurant.

here is the problem that i face. when i eat a pizza alone i inevitably eat the whole pizza in one sitting. i'll cut it into 8 slices and start chomping'. the next think i know there are only two slices left. at this point i'm no longer hungry, but i look at the last two slices and think to myself.....this isn't enough for another meal. then i proceed to eat the last two slices. this is a bad habit that i've had trouble kicking.

here is the danger behind this.

dominos medium pepperoni (original crust) - 1784 calories (76 grams of fat)

based on this website. this would be 64% of my daily allowance. assuming i am doing a light exercise 1-3 days a week. this isn't so bad seeing as i tend to eat a small breakfast and modest lunch. the real danger is the amount of fat. according to the university of maryland i should be eating no more than 85 grams of fat a day. meaning the pizza alone is 90% of my daily fat allowance. i just can't see this being good.

is there anyone out there to help me eat my pizza?

The Answer, El Mol, Is.....

the other day the great el mol asked this question. "The next question is what happened to the trumpet and who will bring that back??"

i saw the answer to this question on a lewisville public access channel last night. here is your answer....

http://www.mingofishtrap.com/

Bragging Rights (I'm # 1)

i first will start off with some background for the story. i have worked for a bank for 5 1/2 years. last september i changed positions within the bank so that i could become a financial advisor part-time. i changed from being a personal banker to being a call center agent for associates that have questions in regards to bank policy, legal or technical issues. there are currently four locations in the U.S with each having slightly over 100 associates. one month ago the bank decided to close the site that i work at. making my final day with the bank will be october 28, 2005. it is obvious that it is a money issue since my site is know to be the top performing site out of the four.

i found out two days ago that my site once again ranked #1 out of the four. also my team of 15 agents ranked #1 out of 26 teams. on top of that i myself ranked #1 out of over 400 associates nationwide. the best part is that since i was one of the top 10 associates in the nation. i get a $500 bonus for the month of june. hopefully i can do this again for the last 4 months i work at the bank. this would give me an additional months salary on top of the 2 1/2 months severance i will be receiving.

Dark Chocolate is Pure Sweetness

2 New Reasons to Love Dark Chocolate

In the study, which appears in the March issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers compared the effects of adding 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of dark chocolate or 90 grams (3.2 ounces) of white chocolate to the normal diets of 15 healthy Italians. Dark chocolate is rich in flavonoids due to their high cocoa content, but white chocolate contains no cocoa, and, therefore, no flavonoids.

The participants ate a daily dose of dark chocolate for 15 days, followed by a seven-day no-chocolate phase, and then ate the white chocolate for another 15 days. Researchers found that blood sugar metabolism was significantly improved after the dark chocolate phase, as evidenced by reduced insulin resistance and higher insulin sensitivity. But no such healthy effects were found after the white chocolate phase. The study also showed that the participants' systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) was significantly lower after 15 days of eating dark chocolate -- an average of 108 mm Hg compared with 114 mm Hg. Again, no effects were found after eating white chocolate. Other studies have shown similar effects with other flavonoid-containing foods, such as tea and wine, on blood pressure. Researchers say the antioxidant-rich compounds improve blood pressure by helping the lining of the blood vessels expand and contract better to control blood flow more effectively. In an editorial that accompanies the study, Cesar G. Fraga, of the department of nutrition at the University of California, Davis, says "the findings of this study are of particular interest in terms of identifying potentially healthy foods."
He says other studies with flavonoid-containing foods, such as tea and wine, have shown similar effects on vascular and blood pressure regulation.

SOURCE: Grassi, D. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2005; vol 81: pp 611-614.

False Hope

right now. this very moment that i'm typing this blog. i'm on hold with my electric company. they claim to not have received my payment for my apartment that i just moved from as well as my new one. i paid them the same way that i paid the previous month, online bill pay through my bank, which worked fine.

according to my phone i have now been on hold for 25 minutes. this i can handle because it is on speaker phone and i'm occupied by blogging. what i cannot handle is the repetitive break of music with a full second of silence then an automated message that says, "thank you for your patients in holding, a gexa customer service agent will be with you momentarily." the issue i have with this is every time i hear the full second of silence i think that an agent is going to come on the line, but alas my hope is crushed by an automated message. can they not let me listen to jazz music in peace? i know they have every intention to answer the phone. i don't need the 30 second reminder that gives me false hope and adds stress to my life.

End of the World

sunday afternoon i wandered into super target after hitting balls at the batting cages. my primary reason for going inside was to cool off. while wondering around i checked out the clearance rack that i find cool stuff on from time to time as well as the beautiful women in the store. is it me, or does target attract hot women? anyway, i proceed to make my way down the isle that passes by every checkout stand. i was walking from the grocery side towards the electronic side to check out the music section and was approached by a girl working the last check out stand. here is how it goes.

girl (g): are you ready to checkout?
j-lay (j): not quite yet. ( had cd in hand that i previously picked up)
g: would you like to apply for a target card?
j: it's my job to get people out of debt, so no thanks.
g: what do you do?
j: i'm a financial advisor
g: so you show people how to invest?
j: yes, so that people don't have to be greeters at walmart when they are 70 +, and spend time with their grand babies.
g: i think the lady at walmart likes her job.
j: so you're saying that she would choose to work at walmart rather then spending time with family?
g: maybe she doesn't have a family
j: i'm sure she would find better things to do than work at walmart if she didn't need money.
j: if you start investing money when you're young, you only need to save a small amount each month to retire a millionaire.
g: how young?
j: 20's
g: i'm 20 so how much?
j: if you save $200 a month in an ira that is invested in a mutual fund, you should have $1.5 - $2.0 mil.
g: i think that is a waste of time because the world is going to end soon and all of these people saving for homes and cars will have wasted their time.
soon the God will come down and take up all the kids and christians, and the earth will become hell. then for all of the people left on earth will have to wear the mark of the beast to buy their homes, cars, cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol. so saving money is pointless.
j: so when is the world going to end?
g: i don't know. i just know it's soon.
j: so i should just blow all my money and assume that "soon" is within the next few years and not a hundred years from now.
g: yes
j: it's been nice talking to you and i'm going to go blow some more money now.
g: btw, my name is amber
j: nice to meet you amber (think in my head that this girl is crazy, and i must get away soon)


do i think the world will end?.....yes. when?....i don't know. will i choose to live like there is no tomorrow?....no. will i fill sorry for crazy girl if God hasn't come by the time she is 70 and working at walmart?....yes. will i feel guilty?....no.

Night Vision Technologies

*my first post to ever display an image

recently i read an article about bmw adding a night vision feature to it's 7 series line of cars. bmw claims that its new 7 series is the first production car to feature a far infra-red night vision system, used in conjunction with the new high-beam "assist" function to make night driving safer. a thermal imaging camera covers a distance of up to 1000 feet in front of the vehicle to create an image of objects out of range of the headlights.

the more brilliantly the object the on the central monitor is displayed, the greater the warmth registered by the camera. pedestrians and animals would thus be the brightest areas of the image because of their high infra-red heat signature; they're also the most important things to concentrate on when driving responsibly.

source: http://www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2621784

Men and Flowers

i love photography and i love taking pictures of nature. from time to time i capture a great picture of a vibrant flower and i will use it as wallpaper on my computer at home and/or work. sometimes i will even borrow a picture from my friend lara ( http://larabarrettphotography.blogspot.com/ ), who is an awesome photographer. in this modern age of men becoming more in touch with their "feminine side" i still get harassed by co-workers about using pictures of flowers as wallpaper. can a man not enjoy the beauty of nature. specifically the beauty of a flower? i still put pictures of sports cars and choppers on my desktop. i haven't lost my testosterone driven mind. i feel that holding a stereotype of flowers are for women and not for men is like saying that women should cook and clean while men mow the yard. we are in modern times people. women can play sports and men can like flowers. it doesn't make us any less of a man or woman. only more diverse.

Where is Chipotle?

while browsing the net i ran across an online pole that rated the best burritos in dallas.
click here to find out who rates the best.
http://dallas.citysearch.com/bestof/winners/2005/burrito

New York vs. Dallas

Television portrays cities such as New York, Chicago and L.A. as high crime cities, but are they really cities of crime?

City / Index / Murder / Rape / Robbery / Assault / Burglery / Larceny / Auto Theft
Dallas / 5879.3 / 7.8 / 37.4 / 272.6 / 364.7 / 1093.9 / 3351.1 / 751.9
Chicago / 4367.0 / 9.8 / 42.6 / 272.4 / 408.1 / 597.7 / 2580.0 / 456.4
L.A. / 3998.3 / 11.8 / 29.3 / 303.9 / 557.4 / 628.8 / 1737.9 / 729.2
New York / 2973.4 / 6.6 / 19.2 / 303.5 / 387.9 / 361.2 / 1581.8 / 313.2

*the lower the index the lower the crime rate

After looking at the numbers I think that we should drop NY and L.A from the list of cities used as references for crime on tv and in movies and replace it with Dallas. Maybe we could have shows like "DFW Blues", "CSI Dallas", "Dallas Vice" or "DFW Law".

Stuff Hangin' Out

today while driving to work i saw a lady who's dress was shut in her car door with part of it hangin' out. this is a semi common occurrence for me. i can think of at least 10 other times i've seen this in the last 3 years. do these women not notice? i would think i would notice if my close got stuck in the car door. does anyone else notice stuff like this.

another even more common occurrence is the gas cap door open with the gas cap hangin' out. i'll admit that i did this once, but i did catch it while looking in my side mirror before exiting the parking lot. do people not use their side mirrors, or do they just not care?

something else that i notice hangin' out these days are the bellies of over weight women. i know they want to be as fashionable as the women in the magazine ad, but lets face it. you don't look like the woman in the magazine. just like i don't look like the man in the magazine and i don't walk around pullin' up my shirt to show off my not so wash board abs. when you look in the mirror and see your belly rolling out of your shirt and over your pants. do you really think that is sexy? really? do you?

Ranger's and July 4th

for 229th birthday of our great nations independence i went to watch the all american game of baseball. though the temperature outside was hot, the game evening was just starting to heat up. the ranger's started of the game with 3 quick runs in the 1st, but in the 6th boston came back to tie the game at 3. two inning later i watch manny ramirez jack a 446 footer to center field making it 5.3 redsox. texas put a run on the board in the bottom of that same inning to make it 5-4. with the rangers trailing, 5-4, in the ninth, Michael Young hit a one-out triple to the gap in right-center field off red sox closer keith foulke, and scored when mark teixeira followed with a sharp double to right field to tie the game at 5. hank blalock drew a walk and foulke hit alfonso soriano with a pitch to load the bases to set up kevin mench's line drive down the left field line to win the game. final score, good guys 6 bad guys 5.