niks blog

Another day in the books and I’m already excited about the changes. I find myself having more energy and a strong ‘feeling’ internally that my body is transforming. That all may be due to my faith in the system. Nevertheless, I am cheerfully looking forward to the next measuring day (Sunday…)

• Breakfast – 1/2 cup of egg beaters, 1 whole organic egg, 1 cup of frozen spinach, all seasoned with seasoned salt and fresh ground pepper
• Lunch #1 – 1 can of black beans
• Lunch #2 – 1 can of Indian chole & Kala chana
• Dinner – 1/3 can of black beans, 1/2 cup frozen corn, 1/2 cup frozen peas, 1/3 cup frozen spinach, 1 hard-boiled egg, Salt and powdered garlic, 2 tablespoons of hummus -> all blended together; courtesy of The Barefoot Thundergod

One thing I noticed is that today I had way too many beans. Obviously, I need to start looking for recipes that offer an increased well-balanced approach. It’s only the first week so I will do some more research and hopefully come up with an improved meal plan. Any ideas?

Here is what I had today:

• Breakfast: 1/2 cup of egg beaters, 1 whole organic egg, 1 cup of frozen spinach, all seasoned with seasoned salt and fresh ground pepper
• Lunch: large cup of black beans with diced green pepper and onions, small cup of cottage cheese
• Lunch 2: Leftover stir fry
• Dinner: Quorn brand faux chicken breast, red lentils, small arugula salad

I had a bit of an issue today at my 2pm lunch #2. Since I was in a meeting, I couldn’t eat much and only had enough “respect” to eat stir fry. And I had to work late, till about 6:30pm, that I had to have a late dinner. I’m trying to keep to a meal every 4 hour principle, but it’s not always easy. Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Day 2 is here and here’s what I had today:

• Breakfast – 3 organic eggs over easy with seasoned salt and fresh ground peppercorn
• Lunch #1 – 16 oz of cooked red lentils
• Lunch #2 – cottage cheese and one cup of black beans
• Dinner – Veggie burrito bowl with mixed veggies, no cheese, no sour cream, and guacamole
• 1 glass of red wine

I’m not measuring myself daily due to the strong likelihood of fluctuating data. Here’s hoping for significant improvements!

4 Hour Body cover

As a first step to regaining control over my health and “teaching” myself to eat better and lead a more ‘active’ lifestyle. Late last year, I had the good fortune of hearing about Tim Ferriss’ new book, “4 Hour Body”. I had read his last book, “4 Hour Work Week”, and did not agree with many of his approaches. I still refuse to believe that his concepts can apply to anyone other than those who set their own work schedules, develop their own goals, and judge themselves on their overall performance. But I digress.

Since I am a vegetarian, following Tim’s advice is somewhat challenging. The best part about his strategy is that he actually encourages everyone to eat as much as they want of the “allowed” foods. Common mistakes I found online about everyone following his proposed diet included not eating enough.

In a nutshell, he says you should have four meals a day, everyday. A key element is to make sure that every meal has at least 20 grams of protein. The diet allows for a “cheat” day (once a week) where you can actually pig out and eat whatever you desire in whatever quantities. Loosely put, this will encourage your body to acclimate itself to a stricter diet in an easier manner.

Ferriss encourages everyone to identify four different meals to have every day and NOT change them for about a month – ensuring that each week you have a “cheat” day. So what am I doing? Let me tell you.

Nik’s Tentative Meal Plan

• 6:00 AM CST – breakfast – 3 organic eggs over easy with 2 dashes of seasoned salt and freshly ground peppercorn and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese
• 10:00 AM CST – lunch #1 – 16oz of cooked red lentils
• 2:00 PM CST – lunch #2 – 8 oz of soaked black beans and a portion of stir-fry
• 6:00 PM CST – dinner – randomly prepared meal that includes spinach, other mixed veggies
• 8:00 PM CST – up to 2 glasses of red wine

Dinner is a bit complicated since I, myself, am still trying to figure out what to eat. Being vegetarian isn’t hard, it just requires more ingenuity to discover what foods will give me the necessary balance of nutrients and protein in every meal.

Day 1

Today’s menu consisted of:

• breakfast – 3 organic eggs with seasoned salt, tabasco, and freshly ground peppercorn
• lunch #1 – small bowl of leftover pasta and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese
• lunch #2 – black beans with diced onions and green peppers and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese
• dinner – a large bowl of acorn squash soup and stir-fry

My plan is to stick with this diet for the next month and measure my body’s metrics every week. I will also try my best to post everyday what I have to better track my food consumption and continue to keep myself motivated. Wish me luck!

I cannot begin to even share how my life has changed incredibly since my last post – which was back in May 2010. My professional career has blossomed in ways I could not have imagined, my personal life is challenging yet exciting, and I cannot recall that I have been happier before.

Now that 2011 has begun, I want to join the billions around the world and list my new year’s resolutions. Rather than listing all of my resolutions, I will only list the ones I think are quite important.

2011 Resolutions
• Write and publish at least one post on this blog
• Take at least 1 picture a day and post it on Twitter or some other social platform
• Develop a healthier diet and exercise regimen
• Enjoy life

I’ve also chosen a new theme, but I’m most likely going to be reviewing multiple themes until I find one that sits well with me. I am really looking for a minimalist theme that focuses on the core content and overall speed. I am not interested in a theme that relies heavily on graphics or extravagant user experiences. Furthermore, I want a theme that emphasizes simplicity and ease of use. Maybe you can help me find one?

Wish me luck!

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to witness my eldest paternal uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary. Yes, you read that correctly, it was the 50th wedding anniversary. As far as I know, I have never met a couple that had their 50th wedding anniversary.

For those who are unfamiliar, the 50th wedding anniversary is considered the Golden Anniversary and is a milestone that is not accomplished by many couples. I would argue that couples that make it this far are part of an exclusive group. Do you know anyone in your family who has celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary? If so, consider yourself very lucky!

This celebration was also an incredible opportunity to meet virtually all of my cousins, uncles, and aunts from my father’s side of the family. My father’s immediate family members are all in the US now, but it is so difficult to meet all of them. When I was younger, it was much easier to meet since most of their kids were still in college and could easily make time to meet. Today, most of us are now almost done with college and are starting to enter married life and/or a professional life. This presents many logistical difficulties since it’s not easy requesting days off work.

To keep things simple, I am incredibly happy to have met all of my cousins again. Some of them I had not met in over eight years and yet they lived only ten hours from where I currently reside. For some people it may be too late to create new resolutions, but I want to make another resolution. I really want to work at keeping in touch with my family members via email, Facebook, etc.

All of us growing up and I feel fortunate to have seen my uncle celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary. What’s his secret? He doesn’t have one. His only advice to me was to treat marriage with respect and consider it another responsibility. So let’s hope I can join this exclusive club in about 50 or so years!

I have been avidly blogging for the past several years. During that time, I have never had the need for implementing a blog disclaimer. As some of you may know, I also blog at my other website, NaanBrotNToast. Over the last few days, my wife and I have had to deal with an issue with one of her friends. Her friend, Angela Smith, requested that her name, her husband’s name, her daughter’s name, and all pictures of them be omitted from a post that had already been published. Furthermore, Google had already cached the post, so the situation was almost out of our hands.

My wife told me about the request and I asked her why Angela wanted us to omit the information. According to my wife, Angela did not really provide any meaningful reason other than the fact that she does not like her name on the web and wishes to protect her privacy.

Fair enough. However, that does not automatically constitute a reasonable request to remove her name from a post that has already been published. I refuse to accept that I should honor someone’s request to omit information about them in the eyes of privacy. As much as I value privacy, I also vehemently value my freedom of speech.

As such, I will now institute a disclaimer on this blog as well. I want everyone to know that I respect everyone’s privacy. However, I believe it is far more important to protect my intellectual thoughts and words. My disclaimer will probably not address every situation, but I aim to have it provide some guidance.

In short, I will NOT be removing/editing names unless a person’s direct well-being may be compromised negatively.

Long live Freedom of Speech!

My wife had the chance to talk to Angela via email and we discovered the true reasons why Angela had requested her name be removed. I will not go into further details, but the reason was acceptable to me. It should be noted that Angela is not the real name of my wife’s friend. And this is to protect her privacy.

A Broken Kindle

I’m not a big fan of illegitimate cartels such as the MPAA and the RIAA. In fact, I despise anyone or anything that supports their actions usurping users’ rights. Lest I forget, I don’t want to leave out the next wave of idiots that are coming out of their shells: Publishers.

E-books are coming

Earlier, I posted about E-book readers being screwed. I have my own opinions on e-book readers and I strongly believe that they will co-exist with paper-based media. However, I think the adoption of e-book readers will not skyrocket like the personal digital media player (i.e., iPod). E-books will gain a strong foothold with voracious readers and commuters. I, myself, would enjoy the prospect of having my daily newspaper delivered to my e-book reader daily.

Like it or not, most people will begin carrying around another gadget to supplement their already growing array of electronic gadgets.

Amazon had a vision, now they killed it

Amazon came out with a great pricing scheme for e-books, $9.99. Most of the e-books that Amazon sold for its Kindle were flat-rate and easy to remember. Publishers such as Macmillan, have basically thwarted Amazon’s noble effort to maintain a strict one-tier price model.

Why? Macmillan wants to make more money and reduce ‘harmful’ effects on sales of overpriced hardcover editions.

Let’s sell for…

Apple and Macmillan have literally teamed up to deliver e-books at a tiered pricing model. In other words, most of the newer e-books will cost $14.99 and may see reduction in price as time goes on. The $14.99 price point allows publishers to sell these new versions at the same time as the hardcovers, but at a price point closer to the MSRP of the hardcover editions.

Let’s screw the customer AND the author

Paul Carr, a noted TechCrunch writer, is an established author and he writes a fairly constructive view of what this new pricing model by Macmillan really means for the author.

For the first time in the UK since 1997, and ever in the US, publishers are able to set – and enforce- their own prices on ebooks. And they will; not to make a fair return on ebooks but rather to cripple their sales in order to protect early hardback book sales. They’ve admitted as much themselves, saying that prices will start high on hardback release, before dropping steadily over time.

What is happening is that publishers like Macmillan are screwing e-books by making the price point artificially high and inadvertently promoting piracy. E-book piracy is not as big as music piracy, but I can assure you that if e-books do not have consumer-friendly pricing, more and more customers will engage in questionable tactics to get their e-books.

Imagine a “Napster” for e-books

Soon we’ll start seeing e-books without any DRM (digital rights management) popping up on popular torrent search engines. As e-book readers continue to increase in sales, we’ll start seeing hackers ‘jailbreak’ their e-book readers and improve functionality.

Ladies and gentlemen. What we are seeing is the birth of e-book piracy because publishers are on a crusade to crush consumers’ rights, all in the name of protecting their pathetic business models.

Long live e-book piracy.

I’ve never purchased any Star Trek games for my PC (when I used to have one) or my console systems (Sega Genesis, Xbox, Xbox 360). However, I’ve always wanted to buy a Star Trek game; but whenever I looked at the description of the game, I realized how lame the game will be.

Many Star Trek games have decent graphics and passable plots. What they all lack is the ability to capture the true essence of the series that Gene Roddenberry had envisioned. Star Trek was never envisioned to be a story about constant battles with other species in the galaxy. Rather, it tackled philosophical and political issues from a very unique and progressive perspective.

I read an article in Kotaku about why there hasn’t been a truly great Star Trek game. I agree with the author that most Star Trek games try to mimic combat activities and promote combat as the focus point of the game. The true essence of Star Trek was never combat. Rather, the soul of the series focuses quite a bit on tackling decisions that influence a person’s character.

If you ever watch Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), you will realize that Captain Picard and his crew frequently obsess over the various actions they could execute rather than the actual execution of their actions. And a truly great Star Trek game will always emphasize the actual decision making process of the series rather than the fighting.

That’s why Star Trek games need developers that understand the actual complexities of decision analysis to code a game that rewards players for making decisions. In every episode of TNG, there are always a set of decisions that the crew of the Enterprise must make. And any great developer will know that capturing those set of decisions for various situations can become a successful formula.

Maybe one day, a proper game developer will step up to the plate and deliver a great Star Trek game that focuses on decisions rather than simple combat.

Surrogates: Movie Poster

The other night, I had the misfortune of watching Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis. I won’t deny it, I’m a Bruce Willis fan. I enjoyed his Die Hard films and I think Bruce is definitely one bad-ass dude! However, Surrogates left a sour taste in my mouth and I was almost about to plead to the movie gods that they should give me 90 minutes of my life back. I’ll let you read the ‘professional’ reviews online or in print. But allow me to explain three things that I hated about this movie.

Number 1: How did crime decrease?

One of the ‘facts’ mentioned in the movie regarding the use of surrogates is that crime has proportionally decreased due to the widespread use of surrogates. In fact, the movie begins to state that no murder has really occurred in many years. From what I gathered, one surrogate could kill another surrogate and the owner of the perpetrating surrogate would get a slap on the wrist, a nice fine, and virtually no other penalties. So basically, you could still commit crimes, it’s just that the penalties are severely reduced. How the hell does that work?

My guess is that the producers and writers failed to see that connection and simply assumed that the viewing public is gullible and retarded.

Number 2: They have a “lawless” zone in major cities?

It should come as no surprise that there are many humans in the future that do not want to use surrogates. They view surrogates as hordes of drug-addicted drones. In fact, the movie illustrates surrogate users as being addicted to drugs. And that drug is the act of using surrogates. But I digress…

The major city, Boston, has a zone called the “dread zone” in which surrogates are not allowed to enter. If you are a surrogate, you will be destroyed and it really looks like the slums of the city. How the hell does a part of the city be declared virtually independent from the rest of the city? These ‘dreads’, as their known, kill surrogates and the cops virtually helpless to do anything about it. That makes absolutely no sense to me.

I realize that there are many communities in major cities that lack proper judicial enforcement, but there are no communities that are strictly off limits to all members of law enforcement if a crime occurs.

Number 3: Just a piss poor plot

I’ve never read the original comic book that the movie is based on. My guess is that the comic book is exponentially better than the actual movie. The movie’s plot does a very poor job of really developing a unique story. I think the movie would have benefitted quite a bit from a better backstory that led into the climax.

But who am I kidding? I didn’t pay to watch this movie. Thanks Redbox for sending me a free code on the first Monday of every month!