My Transformation Journey, Entry 2 – Small Steps

Its been about three weeks since I have committed myself to gaining strength and losing weight. Though the weeks have flown by its still a day by day process.

The last few weeks have been pretty tough on me. Doing mostly weight training and now incorporating jump rope for cardio has been fun to say the least.

Other then weight training, I have been making sure I do at least 100 push ups within a day. Though its the “girl” way, I can only do them on my knees right now, it is getting easier to get through them.

When I started doing push-ups about a week ago, I wasn’t able to do any the “normal” way and I was only able to get through about five or six the “girl” way. Now I can do two normal push-ups and I have worked my way up to fifteen push-ups at a time the other way. It is a gradual process and I know as I get stronger and start losing the pounds they will get easier. My goal is to do 50 consecutive push-ups the normal way. My stretch goal for push-ups is to be able to 100 consecutive push ups.

One of things I have learned is that for at least the first few months I cannot concern myself too much how much I weigh. Since I am going to be gaining muscle, I am going to be gaining weight for a little while, since muscle is heavier then fat. However, I was curious and check the scale today anyways just to see there is a difference. A couple of weeks ago I weighed in at 307.6lb and today I weighed in at 304.5. I don’t know if that is just water weight, but I will take it!

Also, today when I was getting ready for work I put my work jacket over my work sweater. Normally, if I have the jacket liner in, the jack is a little tight over the jacket. Today however, I noticed that is it a little loose. Not by much, but enough for me to notice to the difference.

Before I end this post I want to thank my friends and family who have sent their encouragement. Thank you all. It means a lot while I go through this process.

Forget Gay marriage. Civil Unions for all!

I am against gay marriage. I am against straight marriage. I am against bi sexual marriage. Well, that’s not really true. I am against any Government recognition of marriage.

Marriage is supposed to be a commitment between two people. But why cant multiple people marry each other? Why can’t a man have five wives or a woman have 6 husbands?  There are many theories why marriage started. But a lot of them are about making a keeping a family and not having children out of wedlock.

Now, with all that said, why does the Government have to recognize my marriage? Why is it that who I am married to has more rights to what happens to me then someone else by default? Marriage has almost become a joke, where almost 50 percent of marriages result in divorce. Why does the Government have to get involved? Why do they have to know who you are married? Marriage is supposed to be a commitment between two people. The law says a man and a woman in most states, but for the sake of my argument, it is an agreement between two consenting adults, who have decided to spend their lives together.

When it comes to marriage, the spouse almost always gets too much power of the other in certain circumstances. I mean this in a couple situations. The first is divorce. Why does someone have to sign a prenuptial agreement to have their previous monies and properties before they got married protected? I can see if it is proven that the spouse has helped directly make profits improve, or if there are monies, property, ect that they both acquired together.

Why is it if I get married and I own a house I paid before even meeting said spouse does that person have any right to them if we get divorced? Why is it if I bought stock 10 years ago and I have not touched since I bought it, does that person have the right to have half of it?

Like I said, I am not against marriage. I am against Government recognition of marriage. The Government should not have any say in who I sleep with or who I decide to spend the rest of my life with.

Now you might say;”What about what happens if you get hurt or you die”. To that I answer. Sort it out before a major event like that happens. Get a living well, set who is your legal power of attorney and your medical power of attorney. There is a difference between the two. Try to do what you can do to prepare for the worse to happen. Either to you, or your partner.

The government needs to get out of our lives and let us marry whoever we want. A man and woman, a woman and woman, a man and a man, family marrying family, it doesn’t matter. As long as all parties are consenting adults, then the Government need to shove off and get out of our business.

Now, I will say this about the “marriage equality” movement. How about like minded “straights” get together with their homosexual comrades and help get rid of Government recognition of marriage and everyone gets a “civil union”. If you want to be “married” that should be done in a private ceremony done by whatever religious organization you belong to and not have anything to do with civil unions.

I believe when it comes to civil unions, all it should be is that person A and person B, both of the age or above 18 on what ever given day are now legally “domestic partners” All legal stuff should be done after the union is completed. That includes both powers of attorney, living will, ect.

Civil unions is the legal side of it and marriage is the spiritual side of it. And the Government, other than knowing who my one or many partners are can get the hell out of it.

What Freedom of Speech means to me

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”, 1st Amendment of the United States of America Constitution.

The 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution is the most important to me. It was also so important to the writers of the Constitution, it was the first one written. A freedom that I believe a lot of people have taken for granted.

The first amendment is much more than believing what you want to believe, saying what you want to say, and reporting the news unbiasedly. Its a way for the people to keep the Government in check. A way for the Government not to control the people, which through the likes of The Patriot Act, the NDAA, and HR-347.

All in the name of National Security and for YOUR protection. Not to mention how these also violate the 4th Amendment as well.

Most recently and what is not getting any attention by the so called “media” is HR-347. Which says that anywhere the Secret Service is working and they believe you are causing a “disturbance” is an arrestable offence and a felony. It does not specify what is a disturbance. So, in can be said that the protestors across the street were protesting peacefully, but they believed they were a “disturbance” and bingo, felony arrests. The person that is being protected does not even have to be there for this to take place either.

After the 1st Amendment is the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution, “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” Other than protecting us from when the Government take too much control I believe this one is also their to protect the 1st Amendment. Funny, how that is under attack as well. Curious that amid all these bills that are restricting us, they are now trying to chip away at the 2nd Amendment. All in the name of your safety and for the Children. Because history has shown us that when the Government disarms the people, nothing ever bad happens to them...

But this is not mainly about the 2nd Amendment, but I note it, since it is our way to defend ourselves from the Government. Protect ourselves from the Government when we are not allowed to speak out anymore in fear of being taken to jail. Heck, in The founding fathers knew this might happen and that is why I believe they put the 2nd Amendment in.

Going back to the topic at hand, I believe the 1st Amendment is under attack. Not only by the Government, but by everyday people who get “offended” by something and then want that speech labeled as “hate speech” and wants it illegal to say it or at the very least, makes you have some sort of punishment for saying something people do not like.

Some people still can't wrap in their mind how I will protect the rights of someone saying something hateful like the KKK, Black Panthers, Westboro Baptist Church, etc to people fighting for civil rights, speaking out against the Government, protesting what they believe is unjust. I justify both arguments as long as they do not create a clear and present danger. Afterall, you cannot yell “fire” in a movie theater. You can cause a panic, which can lead to people getting hurt.

Now, let me say this, since people will try to take my words out of context. I do not agree, nor do I promote “hate speech”, but if its only words and no violence or inciting violence is involved, then it is just as protected as the someone preaching for “equality”.

What of my biggest pet peeves are the people who preach Freedom of Speech, as long as it doesn't “offend” them. Then they will say, well, that offends me, so you shouldn't be allowed to say that. Umm, no. Freedom of Speech goes both ways. Just because you do not like what they say, does not mean it should be censored from saying it.

Now, I am not saying there should not be any consequences for what you say at times. Just because you have the right to say anything you want, doesn't you mean will not get punished in one way or another. Freedom of Speech protects you from legal action against you for what you say. It does not, however protect you from not getting fired from a job for talking trash about them.

Shortly after Whitney Houston died, John and Ken from KFI 640AM in LA made a remark about her being a “crack hoe”. They were suspended for two weeks because of that. So, like in that case, there can be repercussions what what you say.

So, I guess I can sum it up like this. I will speak out for anyone who speaks out/demonstrates for what they believe as long it does not cause a clear and present danger. With that context in mind; no one should be able to tell them what they can or cannot say or suffer some kind of legal consequence.

My Transformation Journey – Entry 1, The Beginning

For the longest time, I have been overweight. And for a long time, I have been wanting to lose the weight and become strong.

A couple weeks ago, with the help and encouragement from a friend of mine, I embarked on my Transformation Journey. This friend is helping push my limits to help me reach my goal. Where I want to turn this 5’11, [at the time] 310 pound body into a lean body and become stronger.

I have two main goals. The main goal is I want to drop down to 220 pounds. The secondary 
goal is I want to gain upper body strength.

The last two weeks have been pretty brutal. I have been doing more in weight training than cardio, but though I cannot see the results yet, I am starting to feel them.

When I weighed myself last week on Sunday 03/24/2013, I was at 309.8 pounds. When I weighed myself tonight, Sunday 03/31/2013 I came in at 307.5 pounds.

To help push me, I am going to continue to make blogs like this to help document my progress. I will also be taking pictures at the end of each month to I can have a visual record of my progress.

Slowly, but surely I will reach my goal. The only thing that can stop me, is myself. I know I can do this, but I also know there are times I am going to want to give up. Hopefully with encouragement of my friends and family, I can get through the pain and soreness and push myself not only to my goal, but hopefully surpass it.

Kik Messenger Review

After watching a recent episode of the Linux Action Show, I learned about Kik Messenger from their weekly Android App pick.

This app is not only for android though. It is also available for IOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry and the OVI Store.

Now, what is so special about Kik Messenger? What sets it apart from the rest of the messaging applications? Does it revolutionize the way we message each other? And most importantly, does it cook bacon?

Well, if you are used to using Google Voice and you do not like how you cannot send picture messages, this will alleviate that. I think that what separates it the most from its main competitor of Google Voice. Also, for the little stalker in all of us, this application will tell you not only that the message was sent to the recipient, it will tell you if the recipient read the message as well. That I think is a nifty little feature. I bet we all have been thinking, “I sent that message over an hour ago, did they not get it”. With that feature you can tell if they have not read it, or if they are probably ignoring/forgot about you.

Another feature I really like is the group messaging. Just add the person to the conversation and that person will now send and receive messages in the same conversation. Be it two people, or five people. Kind of like a conference call, but instead of talking to each other, you are messaging to each other.

There is a big thing that I like about Google Voice over this application. Well, two features actually. The main feature, is texting people’s phone number in the Kik Messenger interface. Right now, you can only message people who also have Kik Messenger on their device. The other feature I like about Google Voice over Kik, is the web interface. With Google Voice you can send and receive messages through the Google Voice website.

Now, the most important question of all. Does it cook bacon? Unfortunately, this feature has not been added yet. But unlike Google Voice, you can send all the pictures of the awesomeness of bacon you like.

Pros

• Free of charge
• No need for text messaging, since it works off of data
• Group messaging
• Lets you know if the recipient had read the message
• Sending picture messaging.

Cons

• Cannot text “normal” phone numbers
• Have to be signed up and message other members of the service
• No web interface [like Google Voice and MightyText
• Cannot cook bacon

Itunes Version Android Version Blackberry Version OVI Version Windows Phone Version

Internet Access: A fundamental human right?

In this day and age pretty much everyone has some kind of techno gadget that they believe they cannot live without. For most people, which I have to include myself in, it’s their cell phone.  For others it's their laptop, or desktop computer. And for almost everyone, its their access to this magical place we all call the internet.

Funny how in a relatively short amount of time, we have all become almost completely dependant on the internet. We check our emails, manage our finances, get our news, entertainment, and for some people make their living on the internet. What if that was all of a sudden taken away? What would you do?

I know for me it’s a part of my daily life. I pretty much manage everything I do on the internet. I manage my finances online. A lot of my social life is online. Be it with my real life friends or people I have only met on the internet. A lot of it is done through an internet connection. Hell, without the internet I would not have met my beautiful girlfriend, who I love and adore. And yes I have met her in real life and we now live together.

The internet has become the most important communication tool of our time. Just like how the phone was and the telegraph was before that. If the internet would to suddenly be gone, it would disrupt everything. From communication to the stock exchange. Just look what happened in Egypt. Fortunately for the people in Egypt they found ways around what the government did. Some people called people to get things posted, pulled out their trusty dial-up modems and got online with ISP’s in other countries and some resourceful people even used HAM radio frequencies to get online. I'm not going to get into the political discussion of what happened, but its important to note that the internet has become the most important communication tool ever created.

There are some people who say that having the internet has become a fundamental human right. I know that a lot of things I do online and I believe everyone should be able to have access to the internet. But to make it a fundamental right to have an internet connection?

A Human Right is defined as a right that is believed to belong justifiably to every person. Fundamental  rights, like a lot of things are subjective. What is a right in one society is sometimes illegal in another society.

For instance, though obtaining a drivers license in the United States is technically a privilege to have. A privilege, that for sakes and purposes, is a right that anyone can get. Other then if any medical conditions make it so that you cannot drive safely. But in other places, like Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive, unless that gave their husbands consent. In some countries, people have the right to bear arms [own firearms] and in other countries it's illegal for anyone in the general public to have one.

With all of that said, I do believe that everyone should be able to have access to it. Anyone should be able to be sign up with their local ISP [Internet Service Provider] and have access to the internet. In the United States, you can go to any local library and go online. Most coffee shops and even fast food restaurants now have free WiFi access to the Internet.

Like a lot of things, the access to the Internet has costs. Not as extreme as the big ISP’s would like you to believe. But this is not a discussion on data caps because of “congestion”. The costs of the internet is the access to it. The costs of the connections from the ISP to their customers and the costs of maintaining those lines.

As far as a fundamental human right to have a internet connection, I do not believe so. But, I do believe that everyone should have the right to be able to access it.

When it comes to life, a lot of people take it for granted and do not cherish the moments of everyday. You never know how long you will have to live. Even for our smallest of treasures, our children, we really never know how long we will have with them. Even when they are young, they are sometimes taken away from us.

I am a step father and though I have not had the unbearable experience of losing a child, I have to see how other people go through this unfathomable experience. Though I cannot know what they are going through it breaks my heart every time and I hope I never get used to that kind of pain; even if its just knowing what had just happened to someone I do not know. Be with the ones you love and cherish each moment you have with them. You never really know how long or how short of a time you will have.