Location:
Grand Canyon, AZ – Desert View
Desert View is the road that start in the Grand Canyon Village and goes all the way East to the Park’s exit.
Date:
28.08.2009
Map:
Pictures:
The Romanian Dream
the green green grass
2 Mar 10
A Bear’s Diet
Ever wonder what the diet of a bear in captivity is? Now we have an answer, kind of.
Picture was taken at the local zoo, where the nice people who feed the bears thought it would be cool to share this info with the rest of us 
You can also look at sites like this one to learn more about the feeding habits of bears in the wild.
Suprisingly, I eat more than 50% of what’s in there. The highlights are: the peanut butter, the blueberries and the bread (eating the same brand if you believe it).
Now, if I move really slow and growl more, I could stand in for the bear at the zoo whenever he needs a sick day.
1 Mar 10
Workaholics
Everybody knows (or should know) what a workaholic is. In short, a person who cannot seem to do anything besides work.
Now, that might seem interesting and you may admire those persons for their dedication, but rest assured, there is nothing to admire here. A person that is obsessed with its work or is always feeling compelled to to more work is at best, a weak person and at worst an incompetent one. Starting at the assumption that you’re not born an workaholic, but you can become one if the conditions are right (all planets align, etc) I am asking the question: how does one become an workaholic?
Well, there are 2 ways that I can think of:
- You are a person that gets things done, but you have trouble appreciating how many things you can get done in one day. So, naturally you take on more work than you can handle and you end up working overtime. Once this happens consistently over time you are… you’ve guessed it… an workaholic. I think that in this process at some point you might try to fool yourself into believing that this is a transitory state, and once you’ll “prove” yourself or you’ll develop superninja skills this won’t happen. You are wrong. If you can get more work done more quickly (it’s called being productive… pfff) you’ll end up getting more work. So now, the expectation are higher but the time you spend doing the work is the same (or more… yikes). This is what I call a great success and I believe it’s a great way to ruin you health, your personal relationships and in the end your career (the irony) – you don’t think anyone would want you working for them once you go insane, do you? Closely related to this type 1 workaholic is the person who cannot say no (he/she understands that time is not enough but has a hard time saying no – from there is basically the same chain as for the type 1 workaholic)
- You are an incompetent person. You spend more time that it would take the Average Joe to do the same things. Working overtime to accomplish what everyone does in their normal work hours. At some point your ego kicks in and makes you believe that you are in fact an workaholic and you’re addicted to your work. Your existence is a continuous struggle. This is the type 2 workaholic. The one that is a bad bet both in the short and in the long run. (type 1 is good is the short run, but you’ll get f’d when he breaks down). This kind of workaholic should do everyone a favor by finding something he enjoys AND is good at doing and leave the current job for the Average Joe who can at least do a decent job.
Short disclaimer in the end: Although I don’t like workaholics I do understand that under certain situation you’ll have to put in some overtime (or even come in on weekends) as some deadline is very near or there is an exceptional situation going on that requires immediate attention. That should be the exception, not the rule. And the situation should be over sooner than later. If this turns into a normal thing and you accept it, guess what you’ll become… Is your physical health, mental health and personal life really worth what you’re getting paid in this situation?
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Tagged american, attitude, culture, irrationalities, lifestyle, local habits, rant, work, workaholic
21 Feb 10
Hiking – Twin Falls – Trail
Location:
Twin Falls
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/twin-falls-state-park
Date:
26.12.2009
Map:
Pictures:
20 Feb 10
Family Guy Rant
I never looked at Family Guy because it was a clever show. Not even remotely. I looked at it because it was dumb. Dumb humor and dumb subjects. I couldn’t say that I enjoyed it as much as other TV shows I watched, but I guess it was okay. It was okay until they completely copied the subject of one of the South Park episodes. And in the show’s characteristic manner they did it poorly. Copy something and do it poorly…
Anyway, for reference the South Park Episode is Cartman’s Incredible Gift, first aired on Dec 8, 2004. You can see it on southparkstudios.com: http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103851
The lame episode from Family Guy is called Extra-Large Medium and was aired on Feb 14, 2010.Lame.
Later Edit: I’ve been informed that there is another South Park episode, different from one above, called The Biggest Douche in the Universe (aired on Nov 27, 2002 !!) that also mocks psychics. You can watch it here: http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103625 Copying one episode: Lame. Doing something that another show already did twice: Totally Lame.
18 Feb 10
Zig Zag (Losing weight saga – 9)
It’s nice to have the impression that we have everything under control. From the small things to the big things. From things we think about to things we actually do. Of course, most of the time this is an illusion. What really happens is that our fantastic ability to adapt kicks in. Our mind and body will sooner or later accept a new situation and you will probably be fine. In the context of losing weight and switching to a healthier lifestyle this can be a tough thing, You instinctively tend to go for the safe, well known terrain. If you can control some of that slowly changing your habits to improve the lifestyle you have you can achieve long term success. The funny thing about that is you ability to adapt will try to drag you to a point of equilibrium in which you will be able to keep the same weight.
Let’s take an example: Let’s say you run 20 minutes each day. The first day you run you notice that you’ve consumed 250 calories (just an example). Let’s say that the difference between your food intake and what you’re consuming in a day is 100 calories. By running you now have a 150 calories deficit. You will start to lose some weight as a result of the physical activity. What do you think will happend next? Will you be able to lose weight consistently? Probably no. First thing that happens is that you lose weight =>this translates in you burning less calories per day (not by much, but we’ll take it into account). The second thing that happens is that you body adapts to the running and in time you can run the same 20 minutes and only consume 150 calories (for example). You see, you body is reducing the caloric deficit and it’s adapting. It’s resisting. And it’s not a conscious process. (It’s not like you are thinking: I’m gonna fight this exercising things and the body is executing on that). So what can you do to avoid this?
The solution, as advertised and tried by myself, is to continuously challenge the body.
For example, you can:
- continuously alter your exercise routine.
- alter the time of the day at which you workout
- alter the type of foods that you eat (for example I switch between eating peanut butter and walnuts as sources of good fat)
- alter between a slightly higher than normal caloric intake and a slightly lower than normal caloric intake
- do interval training
- whatever induces a small destabilizing factor in your nutrition or exercise activity. I stress the small part!
Basically, you can do anything that will make your body keep guessing what to expect next. This kind of zig-zag-ing will ensure that you get the most out of your food and exercise. The key here is to do all this with moderation and always keep a certain baseline (you wouldn’t want to eat 200 calories one day and 4000 calories the next day – that would be just wrong/stupid)
That being said I think that this strategy can be helpful in fighting excess weight and it can definitely help in case you reach a weigh loss plateau.
18 Feb 10
Hiking – Heather Lake – Trail
Location:
Heather Lake
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/heather-lake-1
Date:
14.11.2009
Map:
Pictures:
16 Feb 10
Hiking – Wallace Falls – Trail
Location:
Wallace Falls
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/wallace-falls
Date:
12.09.2009
Map:
Pictures:
14 Feb 10
Trash
We all know that keeping the environment we live in clean is everyone’s responsibility. What most people seem to forget is that it takes very little to litter compared to the time needed to clean it up. Back in Romania it was almost impossible not to see litter almost anywhere: on the streets, in the commons area of the building you were living, in the woods, everywhere. This was a normal state and it seemed nobody did anything to change it.
Well, today I’ve run into something that reminded me of this state of “normality”. Only this time it is here in the US. Overall the area I live in is clean – but if someone litters you will see that it can literally take a few weeks for that litter to be picked up. So the key, you see, is not having extensive cleaning crews, but not littering in the first place.
Anyway, here are two images that brought back some sad memories to me. What makes it ever worse is that they are taken exactly near 2 hospitals.
13 Feb 10
Dodge: The Wimp’s Car
Take a look at this Dodge ad (if you didn’t see it during the Super Bowl or on recently on Hulu):
What is wrong with the marketing people from Dodge? Who would want to buy/drive a Dodge Charger after seeing this pathetic commercial that seems to be the malefic creation of a zealous feminist? Is happiness (look at the faces of the guys in the ad – hahaha) really reduced to the car you drive? Well… yes, if you are are willing to put your underwear in the basket.
12 Feb 10
Hiking – Robe Canyon – Trail
Location:
Robe Canyon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robe_Canyon_Historic_Trail
Date:
15.08.2009
Map:
Pictures:
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