iPod, iPhone, iMac....Blog

New diet and the road to a new me

2010-08-17T16:34:23Z

People that have known me for a while, know that I've been fat my whole life. Weight is always something I have struggled with. A couple years ago I did the Alli diet, and lost a ton of weight. Unfortunately, shortly after losing some much weight, I switched to an overnight job and threw my diet out the window. I ended up gaining most my weight back that I lost. I wasn't prepared and strong enough to keep with it.

Over the last couple months, I have been hearing of a diet/supplement called "HCG". I finally caved in after a bit of research and decided to do it. The supplement was available at GNC and was $89, but that isn't to bad compared to the diet. The diet is limited to 500 calories a day. Yes, you heard me right. 500 calories a day. I have had to change my entire way of eating. There only only certain things I'm allowed to eat while on the diet, including only specific fruits and veggies, no breakfast, 4oz of meat and melba toast.

Again, for those that know me, they know how I eat. But I am doing this for me and for my health. To long have I been overweight. I suffered a horrific back injury in 2005 that came back to haunt me in October of 2009 and I am still feeling today. The loss of weight will help to improve my back. I want to try and dodge diabetes, and keep my blood pressure down low.

I started the diet on August 10th. That was my first of 2 loading days. Those days are when I can eat anything I want, I just need to stock up on carbs and sugars. August 12th was the first official day of 500 calories. That day I weighed in at 328.8 LBS, it is now Tuesday August 17th and I am already down to 316.6 LBS. That is a pretty big jump.

I am tracking all of my progress on fatsecret.com and doing my best to stay motivated. My pants are already feeling looser, and my joints feel better. I am waking up with more energy as well. I have broken up my goal weight into a few different steps. My first goal weight is 300 LBS which I should hit in the next week or so. My second goal is 280, third goal is 250 and my final goal is 225. I figured breaking my goals down would make it less discouraging and give me steps to be proud of.

I hope to keep everyone informed on my progress on here and on viddler.com. I hope I can count on your support to help keep me going. I have 40 more days of 500 calories and it is going to be a long road.

Moving on from Squarespace

2010-08-02T13:49:58Z

It has been an awesome year having my blog hosted on squarespace, but it is time to move on. I love it hear, I really do, but I simply can't afford to keep my blog here seeing as how I don't post very often. A lot of my time has been focused recently on my podcast Tech Hijack, and I have recently launched Techhijack.com to go with the podcast and offer other tech news. So coreyharris.me will be going to blogger in the next few days. Most my posts will be lost because squarespace does not make it easy to export your blog. The new CoreyHarris.me will be more of a personal blog as well. Very limited on any thing tech, will mostly write about things going on in my personal life. I hope the readers here will follow me over to the blogger account. Thank you all for all the support you have given me over this last year.

Comparing Apples to Oranges, tech sites shouldn't do it

2010-07-04T21:48:07Z

Recently my good friend and owner of Macgasm.net, Joshua Schnell wrote an article about Apple's iPad surpassing Android in browser usage. This would be fine news, if the iPad was actually a phone. Currently Android is only on phones and a few other devices like the Barnes & Noble nook. The iPad though is a netbook/notebook replacement. They are not even in the same category. Of course the iPad web browser usage is going to surpass Android, it probably also surpasses iPhone browser usage. It probably isn't to far behind computer browser usage. Comparing the iPad to an Android cell phone is like comparing Walmart (a discount store) to Nordstroms (High class department store).

Don't get me wrong. I am an Apple Fan Boy. I have been since 2006. But you can't put the two devices in the same league. I have an iPad, and yes I browse with it. It is convenient, more so than pulling my Macbook out or sitting at my desk to pull up a few sites. I never used mobile Safari on my iPhone or iPhone touch. Why? Because the screen was just to small to get any good out of it. I rarely use the browser on my HTC Evo with Android. Why? Because I have apps for every thing I need on the go. This is how it is for many people. Most people purchased an iPad as a netbook/notebook replacement. So lets not compare two devices on completely different ends of the spectrum.

Mozy, a new sponsor and one I love

2010-05-28T02:07:22Z

Don't get me wrong, I love all my sponsor's, but Mozy is different. I have been a Mozy user for about 2 or 3 years now and have recommended them to several people online. I may have actually written about mozy before. Those who follow me have seen some of the things I will do for mozy too. I have real dedication to them. That being said, Mozy is simple to use. You just sign up for an account, download the software, set it up, and forget about it. Mozy runs in the background, updates when you set it to update and you can control how much bandwidth is uses. Sure, the first backup takes a long time, but you are uploading a ton of data. You get to pick what you want to update too! So if you just want to backup your documents, well you can do that. You can even backup your entire computer!!!! How amazing is that! But, I know what you're thinking "What about the amount I upload? Are they going to charge me by the data size"? The answer is NO! Mozy has no cap, which means you have truly unlimited backup space. So check mozy out today and use my promo code "Hijack" to save 15% on your MozyHome subscription of "Hijack15" to save 15% on your MozyPro Subscription!

Oh how things get blown out of proportion

2010-04-14T18:15:55Z

So I made a status update on twitter that was designed to get some Pro wrestlers to react. It got a lot of fans to react, which really didn't surprise me. Funny though how it blew up.

Shortly after some wrestling fans retweeted. And Joe McDonald (Wrestling Promoter) it kind of blew up. First let me say again. The tweet was meant to get some heat. I wanted to see who would respond. I am friends with / or know half the roster and have worked with them in the past. I have much respect for Joe McDonald and the guys. Heck those guys are still active, while I am half crippled. But one person responding decided to become very Un-professional and attacked me. I am fine with it, but he wasn't being playful at all, which was my intent. He questioned my wresting background and my involvement in magic. He called me a yard tard (Back Yard Wrestler) even though I have been trained by some of the best in the midwest. I have worked with some of the best in the midwest. He stated that Midstates Wrestling and All Star Wrestling (ASW has been a mainstay in the KC area for well over 3 decades) where basically backyard fed. Really? I think he has issues. He stated that know one in wrestling has every heard of me. Lets see. I have worked "Hacksaw" Butch Reed, Griz, "Space Cowboy" Jason Jones, Jake Boulder, Jack Dalton (Legacy), Jim Fallon, Bloodlust, Brad Estes, Jeremy "Rebel" Wyatt, Eric Summers, Mitch Carter, Brandon Groom, Michael Barry, Kevin Lovejones, Derek Stone, Craig "Krow" Keeseman, Big Hoss, Thomas Thorn and the list goes on and on.

I have wrestled Jeremy Wyatt a crapton of times while working for Midland Empire wrestling in the beginning of my career. I have a ton of respect for Jeremy. He may not care for me, but I think we had some decent matches.

But I want to say this too. If that post got to people, maybe they should evaluate how they think of themselves. A crappy worker may take offense to that. I know I am a crappy worker, I never claim to be good. You can ask any of my peers. But to claim I have done nothing in wrestling is absurd.

Next is questioning my magic background, claiming to "have friend in the magic community and no ones ever heard of me" Must not be local friends for one, Must not be some big names either. I have an effect that was nationally released called "Hallucinations" I have had my work published in the Linking Ring which is put out by the International Brotherhood of Magicians, I have had work published in Magic magazine. Some of my friends in magic include Jason Dean, John Born, Josh Chaikin, Joshua Jay, Bob Goodin, and again the list goes on. Don't act like you know jack about me when you don't.

Now as for Metro Pro Wrestling, I really hope they succeed. Wrestling has been a dying sport in KC for a long time. When I broke into wrestling, KC had ASW, MEW, and CSW and that was about it. Each promotion was bringing in about 25 - 70 people at the most. Because of athletic commissions wrestling hasn't been able to do much in the KC area, well that is unless your name is Harley Race. I will support Metro Pro, I know I will never work for them, but quite frankly, I am never going to be a working wrestler again because of my back. I hope this clears some things up. I am sure it wont though, but what ever.

Bringing Evernote to my site

2010-02-21T22:24:58Z

I am a huge fan of Evernote. If you talk to me for more than 10 minutes you will know that I am extremely passionate about the evernote service. I even pay a premium for evernote to have unlimited use. Because of my love of the product, I have decided to launch a page on my site dedicated to using evernote. This section will contain, tips, screencasts, and different uses to evernote. If you have an evernote tip that you would like to share, contact me and I would love to add it to the section.

I have neglected Picasa

2010-02-20T17:49:36Z

Any one that knows me, knows that I upload a majority of my pictures to flickr. I pay for the flickr service I use it so much. But I also have a Picasa account. Sadly, I only have a few things uploaded to my account. So I am trying to find a way to use Picasa more. I have thought of a few things. I originally thought of uploaded just my really good pictures taken with my DSLR to Picasa. But I have so many friends on flickr that I don't want them to miss out, and I really don't want to double post a bunch of photos. I then though of uploading my graphics that I have to make for when I post on macgasm. I have actually uploaded a few already. I just don't know how to integrate Picasa into my life.

Do you use picasa and flickr both? How do you use them? Let me know, and help me figure out my issue.

3D HDTV? No Thanks!

2010-01-20T01:40:47Z

One of the biggest products at this years CES was 3D HDTV technology. For some reason, people find 3D appealing. In order to take advantage of 3D though, you need to spend money. For starters, you will need a 3D capable HDTV, thats not going to be cheap. If you want to watch 3D blu-ray movies you will not only need the new TV, but a new 3D capable Blu-ray player along with HDMI 1.4 cables. I am sorry, but this does not seem cost effective to me. Oh, and did I mention you have to wear stupid glasses while watching the 3D content? Well, you do.

Sadly, ESPN is jumping on to the bandwagon and promises 3D broadcasts this year! If every traditional content provider decides to go the 3D way for TV, then I will be saying goodbye to my TV habits. I barely have TV habits at this point any way. I watch mostly DVD, Blu-ray, Stream web content to my apple TV, and watch movies from iTunes on my HDTV. So if 3D is the way to go, then count me out!

Why can't we help ourselves

2010-01-18T02:27:59Z

I know this is probably going to stir up a bunch of crap. I will probably get flamed and every thing else from this post, but this is something that needs to be said.

Recently there has been a tragedy that has stuck Haiti. All over the world people have reached out. I am fine with that. What I am not ok with, is this country, America, is facing tough financial times from all aspects. We are struggling with keeping companies in business, keeping ourselves employed, and struggling even making ends meet. Yet, so many americans get a kind heart and are donating money, helping out overseas. Why is this? If we can't even help out our own during one of our countries worst natural disasters Hurricane Katrina, why are we all of a sudden able to help out people that aren't even american? Were was all this support when hurricane Katrina happened? It was no where. Sure there was some compassion, but not this much.

When we help out in other countries, this is our people and our country showing its arrogance. We pay for our arrogance. We paid for it in 2001, and we will probably pay for it again. It is time we stop being arrogant and stop trying to be the heroes all over the world, and be the heroes in our own country!

The future of Tech Hijack

2009-12-28T03:56:16Z

I have been doing my podcast Tech Hijack for over a year now. I believe that, as a whole the podcast and myself have matured. It is now time to really start thinking of the future of the podcast and the direction for which I want to take it.

Over the past 6 months, I have been playing around with new formats for the show. I have never wanted to stray from doing tech news, however, sometimes there are some slow news weeks. Since I don't really try to cover the big breaking news, that also poses a problem on some of my stories. I find myself more and more covering those breaking stories. I mean, I pretty much have to. I have though, started playing around with "one" topic episodes of the show. These tend to do better as a whole for me listener wise. I think people enjoy hearing my opinion on these one topic shows be it they agree or disagree with my opinions.

I have decided that for many of my "one" topic episodes I want to start having a group discussion. Having a few friends on and other people to discuss the topic at hand. The first show that I want to do is on facebook. I already have people planned on being on it, it is just trying to find the time where every one can do it.

With all this said, what is your opinion of the "one" topic podcast with a group? I think it really opens things up for a nice little conversation and having several thoughts and opinions, I think is a good idea.

Let me know what you think!