March | 2014 | Life Experiences & Observations

March 23, 2014

Where Does Eating Bugs Stand on the Diet Style Continuum

Two nights ago there was a guy on Shark Tank who uses cricket flour to make protein bars. As I see it there are four dividers between four different diet styles which are as follows: Carnivore — Omnivore — Vegetarian — Vegan. I was wondering if eating crickets jumps an individual from one style to another style. Believe it or not the pun was not intended. The crazy subliminal mind rears its wacky head.

Being a vegetarian myself I am in no hurry to eat bugs but I am interested in potentially trying their protein bar. I am unworried about how this would change where I stand on the continuum. After all, my vegetarianism originated mostly for health reasons. Currently I would say its still 75% health related but I definitely don’t like killing animals and understand some of the horrid conditions that go along with the meat industry. I do tend to prefer to take bugs out of my house and put them outside but I still probably kill more than I save. If I kill bugs anyway, it is probably more productive to eat them.

Ok, this analysis maybe getting out of hand. On another note, I do see how the impact bugs have on the life cycle of the earth since I currently compost and bugs play a vital role in that process. When’s the last time, however, that you have seen a vegetarian worry about how they treat bugs? I wish somebody was actually reading my blog so I could get some opinions. I am posting this in the hopes of getting some comments and being surprised by the number answers. So if you have any comments or thoughts, please add them below, Let the smart ass comments commence or better yet, provide a thoughtful answer. And yes I may just have too much time on my hands.

March 19, 2014

Is Blogging Once a Day for a Month Possible?

I have been watching many YouTube channels recently to see what is popular. Based on my research I have determined that the two keys to channel popularity are…

1. Voyeuristic tendencies such as public pranks and using strange tactics to interact with strangers

2. The ability to just plain upload video blogs on a regular basis.

I know it sounds strange but you can be pretty boring on YouTube, just like this blog post, and still massively increase your viewership (in this case readership) just by posting regularly and at a high frequency. At this point I am too new to the YouTube creation world to start there, but I thought I might try blogging once a day, every day, for a month. While this is my first back to back post (yes I posted yesterday), I am not quite ready to take the plunge. So I am gearing up with this post and will hopefully blog once a day for a month starting April 1st. And no this is not an early April Fool’s joke.

I hope to blog again soon this month but stay tuned next month for a blog post everyday. The thought is already beginning to frighten me although I don’t know why. Yes I feel like Christian Slater in Pump Up the Volume who is talking on the radio and thinks that nobody is listening. Are you listening?? Are you out there?? If so, feel free to comment.

Thanks, Goodnight…. stop reading and go to bed already!

March 18, 2014

Our Need it Now Internet Addiction

Last night we had a major crisis in our house. Nobody got hurt or was about to be hurt. We lost our WiFi and/or internet connection. I am not enough of a computer geek to know which and my wife was the one to fix it (proving my lack of computer geeky-ness) . Now at first glance this may seem like no big deal but I found myself reaching for my phone at least 6 times in the hour we didn’t have access. Sure I had a phone signal and could access the internet that way but I just couldn’t handle the sloggy turtle nature of it. And yes I just invented the word sloggy.

From looking up a simple item, to seeing what our friends are doing on Facebook, to Tweeting, to Instagraming, to Pintristing. Even my kids weren’t happy because their Kindle access was disconnected. How did we become so addicted to this need to have information immediately at our fingertips at anytime of day or night? How did we used to survive without immediately knowing, at our fingertips, what the Miley Cyrus was doing between her Oscar performance and going to the bathroom. It has gotten that bad. Am I going to point the finger at you for having this addiction?? Absolutely not, as I have it to. So onto the five step program to resolve this addiction…

1. Turn off your computer
2. Don’t panic
3. Turn off your Phone
4. Don’t panic

“What, Did you Say turn OFF your phone?”… Yes, and DON’T PANIC!

5. Breathe, Breathe, Breathe.

I am not sure how we got to this place in our society even though I certainly understand its advantages. I also understand that sometimes we need a break. So go outside, take a walk, hear the birds, meditate, or heck even go in the bathroom and take a shit without distractions. NO YOU CANNOT BRING YOUR PHONE!

Good Luck and don’t forget the steps.