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Thursday, October 13, 2005

Another politics quiz

You are a
Social Liberal
(65% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(75% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Wow, like that's a big surprise. (grin)

(Nicked this from Susanna Cornett.)

posted at 09:34 AM |

permalink | Comments (0)

Monday, October 10, 2005

Die, telemarketers

My phone here was hooked up three weeks ago. Just this weekend, I have received two telemarketers' calls, one on Saturday at 5 pm, and one today at 8:15 pm. I find it amazing that a) it takes less than three weeks to show up on telemarketer lists, and b) they are calling on weekends, holidays, and well after the dinner hour. I am quite sure they were meant for me, because both of them asked for me by my last name. (One of them got my sex wrong, asking for Mrs. _______, but they knew who was living here.)

Tomorrow, I add my name to the Do Not Call registry. I am not interested in trips to Las Vegas, and I certainly am not going to divulge any information about my credit card usage. My only issue now is the online purchases I have made recently; although none of them have my new phone number, about 10 of them have my address, so I may have to deal with junk mail for some time to come.

posted at 08:26 PM |

permalink | Comments (2)

As a first line of defense the Do-Not-Call list works nicely and as a second line, a cheap answering machine culls the rest.
If you have a mobile phone also put its number on the list.

posted by Bill on October 11, 2005 10:37 PM

We put our number(s) on the Do-Not-Call list and it works fairly well although we still get some calls from 'non-profit' groups or people taking surveys.

I tell them that they're not supposed to be calling since we're on the Do-Not-Call list and they usually reply Tt doesn't apply to us'.

Jerks.

Here's a trick that I use sometimes: if they call, tell them to hold on for a second, put the phone down and walk away; having them sit on the phone for five or ten minutes usually deters them from trying to call again.

posted by Mad Mikey on October 12, 2005 11:49 AM

Sunday, October 9, 2005

Always hungry...

I've not posted about it before, but I am on a serious diet. Since August, I have lost over 30 pounds; I want to knock off 20 more. It's doable, but lordy it can be hard sometimes. I am almost always hungry, because I have a large appetite.

I am eating about 1000 calories most days. A typical day's menu:

Breakfast—One granola bar (150 calories)

Lunch—One 6-inch subway sub (Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki with American cheese) (510 calories)

Dinner—One Lean Cuisine meal (210-280 calories)

Snack (once per day, max)—A handful of unsalted pretzels (100 calories)

This is all washed down with several cans of Coke zero, which adds zero calories.

Of course, I am taking vitamins, because there is no way that I can get a balanced diet from such a regimen.

Couple that with three-times-a-week exercise (45 minutes of exercise, including a 1.5-2 mile run) and it is easy to see how I lost the initial weight.

I'm allowing myself to have one "holiday" each week (usually Sunday) in which I can have something more substantial for dinner. Tonight's dinner will be a NY Strip steak and a baked potato, which will put me well out of the <1000 range, but there was no way I was going to be able to keep this up indefinitely. There are days when I'd consider killing for a bowl full of ice cream or a big chocolate bar, but I desperately needed to lose the weight. If I had exercised more self-control in the past, I wouldn't need to take such drastic measures, but I can't change what has already happened.

posted at 04:10 PM |

permalink | Comments (3)

You might know this and then again, you might not but cutting CARBS will get a lot of the weight off.

I had (and still have to) go on a 'renal diet' which pretty much eliminated all carbs from my diet. Between that diet and this lovely condition I have, I dropped close to 40 lbs. The wife also cut out carbs and SHE dropped 40 lbs.

From my perspective, your diet plan that you posted looks good, but don't make yourself miserable - that is what makes people give up on them and stay overweight; give yourself some 'treats' every so often. It will help more than hurt in the long run....

posted by Mad Mikey on October 10, 2005 11:46 AM

I did the Atkins thing back a few years ago, and it worked—I did lose weight. The problem was that I was unwilling to give up potatoes and bread forever. This diet (it doesn't really have a name, although it is somewhat similar to "Jared's diet" that Subway keeps pushing) is old-fashioned caloric restriction. It doesn't have a lot of gee-whiz nutrionist wisdom, but it DOES have the laws of physics at work. If caloric intake is less than caloric expenditure, the body must burn its stores of energy to make up the shortfall. (grin)

On a related note, I have three pairs of pants that I can no longer wear because they are too big. I put on a pair of jeans that I had not fit into for about two years yesterday, and it was a good thing.

I think I will have some ice cream this weekend if I pass the PRT.

posted by timekeeper on October 10, 2005 06:37 PM

I think I will have some ice cream this weekend if I pass the PRT.

Just don't take your CD player along....;)

posted by Mad Mikey on October 12, 2005 11:51 AM

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