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My New Worst Frenemy

The stationary bike is my new frenemy.

I’ve pretty much maintained my (thirty pounds over) weight for the last two years. I actually lost a few last year then gained them when I started working again (I bless and curse you, free drinks from the office!) and so far, I’ve been losing and gaining two or three pounds over the course of 2011. No, I don’t check my weight. I don’t have a weighing scale. But I know if I’ve lost or gained weight based on how my jeans fit and the way I wear my belt.

Anyhow, sometime ago, I started using this iPod app called MyFitnessPal which is a free calorie counter, diet and exercise journal. I got the idea about calorie counting from a friend before but didn’t take it seriously because I didn’t want to be looking at labels and calculating calories before I eat anything. Especially since I don’t do the cooking and I REALLY don’t want to deconstruct a meal to count calories. It takes the fun out of eating and I absolutely love to eat.

I recently reloaded the app into the iPod and signed up into the site. I tinkered with it and was deligted that they had “kutsinta” in the database which was exactly what I was eating at the time. So I found myself logging my meals for that day and was horrified to see that I’ve been eating way above my suppossed calorie count limit, and that I’ve been eating mostly fat and sugar. Now, I’ve never been a health nut. I hate dieting and exercising. I live the life of a sloth. I work at home so I only mostly leave the bed to go to the toilet, the fridge and the kitchen. I leave the house a maximum of three times in any given week, and mall-hopping is my exercise. But for someone my age and weight and medical problems (nothing serious but I have allergic rhinitis that is a hop, skip and a jump away from true blue asthma), I need to watch my health.

So I decided to use the app again to calorie count as I have an obssession about listing things down and keeping track of them. Also, it comes with a Twitter-like app that allows me to post food thoughts. I’ve thought of linking it to Twitter but let’s just say I like it private.

So, aside from listing down the food I eat everyday, I also have to list the number of glasses of water I drink and the types and duration of exercise I do. I usually forget but I’ve set the app up to remind me to log my meals in. And because I embarrass myself, I try to exercise just so I can add something. Hence that evil piece of equipment up there which I’ve asked, cajoled and bullied my mom to get for us. I have no idea what I was thinking.

But for the past week, everytime I feel lazy, I pull myself off the bed and away from the computer to spend some time with the bike. I get less lazy that way. Could be because of the endorphins. Sorry, I’m really stupid when it comes to exercise.

As I haven’t checked my weight, I can’t say if it’s effective as yet, but I can say that this new habit has helped me watch how I take care of myself. Doesn’t matter if I get thin or not as that is just a byproduct, but so long as I’m healthy, I’m happy ^^ And positive thinking, I will learn to love that bike. I will learn to love that bike. I will learn to love that bike.

Image from here via Google.

Ranks and Titles for $1,000

I went to bed early but ended up staring at the underside of the top bunk of my bed so I decided to download a new audiobook into Acheron and listen until my brain shuts down. But as the iPod decided to take its sweet time creating a back-up, I ended up checking my Sim and my CastleVille kingdom and ended up playing Jeopardy on Facebook.

I remember playing an 8-bit version of the game on the PC when I was young, and I always ended up winning because of the “Bible” category. The computer game was saved on a diskette (the big, thin ones) and had five questions for all five categories so you’re really playing the whole game. I loved it and Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud.

Anyhow, I saw Ivy was playing it so I decided to start, for old times sake. I sucked haha but I noticed that I’m good at US history and geography. And then there was “Ranks and Titles” that I saved the best for last on my first game, thinking that I kinda know stuff about lords and ladies and dukes and duchesses. Wasn’t expecting this to come up but it had me laughing out really loudly.

Nanalo tuloy ako haha US Air Force FTW!

Anyway, audiobook is loaded, and eyes are droopy. Off to bed. Good night!

I Heart Instagram.

I’m currently addicted to Instagram.

I am not, nor will I ever be, a good photographer. I just don’t have the eye for composition or whatchamacallits. I don’t know if colors clash or if something isn’t straight in pictures. All I know about lighting is limited to what I learned to provide tech support for Kodak in my past. Kaya hayaan niyo na akong mag-ilusyon na marunong ako mag-picture :D

Here are some of the Instagram-edited shots. They’re no DSLR pics but I’m pretty proud of them.

Yay, Globe!

I got fed up with Globe over the weekend. Signal has always been bad in our area. We can only use our phones in one tiny corner of our house, and sometimes, even then, you can’t send a text if you move the phone 1 cm to the left or right. Which is why I’m rarely texting people. I prefer Facebook or Twitter. I’m usually online if not on the laptop then on the iPod. But over the weekend, there was absolutely no signal even if we brought our phones outside the house. My text-addict sibs were united in threatening to move to Smart. My sister has a Smart number, but like me, my brother has a postpaid account with Globe. And since it had been twenty-four hours and I had to text people (one of the few times that text was imperative to me), I resorted to Chikka to send my messages. And I posted my woes on Twitter. It took @talk2GLOBE a few minutes to ask me what the problem was. So we messaged back and forth through DM, and they gave me case ID numbers for the four phones at home, and said they were going to check it out. I was like, okay, sure, but I had no idea what they’d do or what I should expect. Probably the 2-bars that I usually get indoors. But even for that, I’d be thankful.

My dad said that signal was back yesterday. I gave my phone a cursory glance but I didn’t check the messages or anything. Then, when I woke up this morning and checked my phone, I did a doubletake. Literally did a doubletake when I saw that I had full bars even while I was sitting several feet away from our “signal spot” at home. I sent a text message to myself, was able to send it, and was able to receive it. I put the phone back at the signal spot to check if it was a fluke.

I am now sitting in bed, right at the other end of the house from the signal spot, in what is (was?) a dead zone, with my phone right beside me, and I’m actually texting. Yes. I am texting.

I’ve connected my phone to the laptop via Bluetooth and I’m using the Nokia PC Suite to text. And the phone is actually sending the text messages out. To people. And they’re replying. So I’m really amazed. Whatever the heck Globe did, it’s working. And I hope they don’t take it back. So I’m defering the “move to Smart” and keeping my six year old number. Yay! Thank you, @talk2GLOBE!

No, I’m not being paid by Globe to advertise. I’m just the type of person who likes to tell people “good job!” if they did a good job. But, I really wouldn’t mind an iPhone 4S hahaha

Pasintabi kay Danielle Steel

I went to Booksale the other day and in the midst of looking for a Suzanne Brockmann or this Tom Clancy book that I passed up the last time I was there, I came across the shelf that had lots and lots of Danielle Steel books. I’ve only ever read one book, Wings, which is good but I’m not into the epic types of novels where everything that happened to the character from birth to death is written. Sure I like knowing the characters and I love seeing them again in an author’s future books, and DS is a very talented storyteller. I just didn’t enjoy her book as much as I enjoy, let’s say, a Nora Roberts.

Anyhow, I saw these books. And since I’m not a fan of hers, I didn’t know that she’d already used two of my titles hehe

Oh, well.

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