I have to admit that I was never a fan of workout tapes; in fact I was kind of cynical about the idea of following a bunch of people working out in a different physical location than where I am. I have been trying to lose weight since the beginning of the year. I started by doing DDR, even thought I have not been doing it lately, and a couple of months ago I joined a Kung Fu school. I also TiVoed a workout show from FitTV.

I was skeptical of the capability of a TV show to be able to get me to truly work out, but I was either super lucky or this Gilad guy is the best because the workout not only felt good, it really made me sweat in 30 minutes and not by jumping like a bunny from the first second. This made me think that TaeBo would be a good idea. The premise that a workout tape can mix martial arts and dancing intrigued me.

I have been hearing about how cool TaeBo is for quite some time. Mostly from their advertising machine. I felt that since I did practice TaeKwonDo for a couple of years before it would be something that I can jump right into. So I went and rented the new Boot Camp video and man was I disappointed. I tried it for the first time this morning and after 20 minutes I was disgusted. I cannot believe that a professional fitness trainer can truly sleep at night putting a product that I deem dangerous.
I gave it the benefit of the doubt and went to check out the website. I thought, hey maybe they have warning, or an introductory tape. I was surprised to see that the first thing they advertise is their new Boot Camp series and besides the warning to contact your doctor before you start a workout program there is nothing telling you, warning we are about to punish your back in such a was that a disk might just come flying out.

The tape starts at a rate that is unsafe without warming up… but I said ok, I can keep up. I did a couple of the initial exercise when Billy all of a sudden spread his legs and ask the viewer to bend down to touch the ground. I said OUCH and stopped to watch what he would do next. No warm-up, no stretching and this guy break into exercises that can seriously hurt someone, not just their muscles but also joints. I was just amazed that there is not a more of a warning before you start this program.

Stretching and warm-up is very important to every exercise routine. When starting to exercise, please consult a professional or a friend that does it in a regular basis. I see now why people get discouraged about exercising so easily. If TaeBo was my only resource or the first one I chose to look it, I would just give up working out and hit McDonalds on the way to work.

Gilad, TaeBo, Exercise, Weight, Stretching, Martial.

Logtar interviews Big Orange Michael.

We had been talking for a while about doing this and we finally got to do an interview over the phone. I hope you enjoy it!

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Big Orange Michael - His Space
Barry - 8:50
Chuck
April

How I met your Mother
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BigOrangeMichael, Logtar, DrWho, Interview, Dating, Stalker, Humor.

It was not enough for the GeekSquad to pirate software, they had to mess with my family. Even though being Tech Support is not one of my hobbies, I enjoy doing it for my family and friends… just not friends of friends that I don’t even know. This weekend I played Tech Support to my family after one of my Great Uncles got his computer technically molested by a member of the GeekSquad.

I am not sure what the standard operating procedure for fixing computers in their manual is, but I hope that they don’t just routinely wipe out harddrives. Lucky for my uncle he did not have any data that needed to be recovered. The GeekSquad charged him $229.00 for an “Operating System Service” which was supposed to “If your PC is infected with viruses, infiltrated with spyware, reacting sluggishly or if it has crashed — Agents can fix the damage to your operating system.” After 2 hours the guy just formatted the harddrive and asked my uncle for the recovery disks… which my uncle had no clue about. The guy just took off and said that he could come back. After missing an appointment my uncle got frustrated and just called me.

My family is actually pretty understanding when it comes to Tech Support, they don’t expect me to fix their computer every single time it breaks. That was the reason they did not call me first, but I think after this experience they will. I don’t mind fixing their computers when they need it; I just want to be appreciated for it. And believe me this weekend they did.

My uncles computer was an easy fix. The hard drive was already trashed beyond recognition. After partitoning it properly and installing the Operating System again it worked like it should have. I am not sure what the problem was originally but I am sure that a good virus scan would have worked… maybe even a scandisk. My uncle has subscribed to Norton since he bought the computer, so I am sure that it was a combination of his DSL dropping and his virus software not being updated while a virus might have done some damage. It was a shame that they had to pay that much money and not even get their computer working again that day. While I don’t blame the GeekSquad for my uncle not knowing what his recovery disks were, I do blame them for trashing the partitions and doing a bad format on a computer before they knew they could leave it operational.

While in Chicago I had the chance to do a couple of other Tech Support calls for my family. These ones were a little easier. Both of them had to do with hard drive failures and I was able to save the data (mostly pictures) with not much trouble. Even got to use the freeze a hard drive trick. While they had not called the Geek Squad I still call them as victories over them. They are now the enemy, unless they refund my uncle the money they charged him for a service they did not perform.

geeksquad, freeze, harddrive, failure, logtar, tech, support.

I wanted to take the time to thank everyone for their support, prayers and thoughts.

It feels like it took me forever to read this book. It was not because the book was not interesting but just due to the lack of time to read. I am a big Crichton fan since I read Timeline. State of Fear does not disappoint and keeps the action coming at a great pace. The theme of the book is Global Warming, but the real plot is how fear is used to control us.

Being driven by fear is one of the problems with our society. I believe that while terrorism is a real threat we are at times misguided while our judgment is clouded by fear. The book also brought some excellent points about scientific research and corporate involvement. I have always loved the way Crichton has been able to make very complicated subjects accessible to reader.

The book mixes a lot of fact with fiction, and at the end of the book the author states his view on the climate change issue. While the book is more of a thriller than a political book, it still makes you think about how much of what we see on the news is actually corporate driven.

While this book is not new, it really resonated with me since we have been seeing on the news a lot of the scandals in Washington. The fiction of how politics and environmental law at times had nothing to do with preserving the environment resonates a lot more on the Abramoff era.

The characters on the book were likeable, and even though the love triangle that formed did not take the twists and turns that I predicted it still entertained. The book was not as predictable as I imagined it would be while reading it, but it still had a couple of things that I figured out early. The book would make an excellent movie like some of Crichton’s books have done in the past… I just hope if they do make it, it is more along the lines of Jurassic park and not Congo or Timeline.

Fear, Crichton, Terrorism, Warming, Abramoff, Congo, Timeline, State

This morning at 2 A.M. Mi Abuelito (My Grandpa) passed away. This blog has been the means to express myself and it has helped me through some rough times… kind of like a friend that always listens without judging me or my feelings. I am extremely sad about it and would love to go to his funeral but at this point I am not sure if the time and money will cooperate.

I would like to take this opportunity not to mourn but to celebrate his life and what he believed in. Accepting others for who they are, higlighting the importance of education, knowledge and respect. He leaves a huge void in my life and heart. I miss you already Grandpa, even though I have not been able to see you as much as I wanted to for the last 11 years…

“Estudia y no seras cuando crecido, el juguete vulgar de las pasiones, ni el esclavo servil de los tiranos”
-Benito Pablo Juarez Garcia

Version en Español

The quote translates as “Study and while growing up you will not be, the vulgar toy of passions, nor the servile slave to the tyrants.” I was very young when I first heard this quote. Come to think of it, I think my love for quotes and proverbs came from my Grandfather.

“Mi Abuelito” (My Grandpa) is in the hospital in critical condition. I got the call last night that I have been dreading for quite some time. It makes me mad that I am so far away and I cannot be by his side right now. It frustrates me that I might never get to see him alive again. It saddens me that I did not get to spend more time with him as an adult and learn more life lessons from him.

Growing up I was always spending time with my Grandfather. I loved listening to him, to his stories, to what he believed. A lot of my values and respect driven life come from him. While my father always led by example and reinforced the values, my Grandfather was the one that educated me in a lot of life lessons through his words. He is a very generous person, and even though he never had real monetary wealth, what he gave me in knowledge is worth more than all the gold he could have ever given me. Compassionate, accepting and always in the search for justice.

My Grandfather led one of the first unions in Colombia at one of the big chemical companies. He accomplished everything he could not just at work but bringing up his family. He is the first one to admit that he is not perfect, that he made a lot of mistakes while growing up, but he tried to always be true to what he believed. I hope he gets better and I have the opportunity to hug him at least once more. I have told him how much I love him over the phone but I just don’t feel like he can truly know until I wrap my arms around him. I miss him so much.

The quote is a beautiful one that I will always remember and keep close to my heart. It really encompasses what education should be about. Sometimes we think of education as the means to money, but in reality education gives us so much more. My Grandfather always advocated education as one of the most important things you can obtain. If you think about it, everything in life can be taken away from you, money, family, dignity, even your freedom… but knowledge is something no one can steal from you.

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