When it comes to buying your eggs at Vons or Ralphs or at any local grocer, which way do you lean? Are you paying the extra $1 a crate or $0.25 an egg for the free range or organic dozen?
Did you vote yes on Proposition 2 back in 2008 stating that farmers must increase cage sizes for chickens, veal calves and pigs by 2015. If you did, you'd be helping a great deal by off setting this cost by spending the extra dollars. In theory, everything proves to be a great idea, but with an economy such as ours, counting every nickel becomes priority.
But when people vote one way, then vote a different way with their fork, they unintentionally undermine the very agricultural changes they’re rooting for.
Because of the dichotomy between what voters say they want, versus the reality of how they shop, the California egg industry faces ruin. The situation was recognized as being so serious, in fact, that state legislators passed another law, AB1437, requiring that all eggs sold in California must comply with bigger cage standards.
If you haven't started drinking coffee, it's not too late! New York Times Well Blog lays out some benefits that recent studies have found. I'll also admit that this is just a healthy reaffirmation of my latest hobby.
http://instagram.com/p/KDNMo_u4fI/
Other recent studies have linked moderate coffee drinking — the equivalent of three or four 5-ounce cups of coffee a day or a single venti-size Starbucks — with more specific advantages: a reduction in the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, basal cell carcinoma (the most common skin cancer), prostate cancer, oral cancer and breast cancer recurrence.
But a cup or three of coffee “has been popular for a long, long time,” Dr. Freund says, “and there’s probably good reasons for that.”
After acquiring the essential tools over the past week, I was able to produce a great cup of coffee; first for my mother-in-law and then myself. What a difference this method makes! I'll post pictures of my setup in later this week.
I couldn't' have made a better video than these guys but I will try in the future. For now, check these guys out!
Sometimes it takes a quick lapse in reality to begin questioning the present and renew the future. When eating dinner last night at Rubio's and enjoying the $1.49 fish tacos, I ended up casually ordering a Corona with my meal. It was the first time that I've done this at Rubio's but I find myself drinking just a tad more than usual. I bet I can attribute my spike in weight to this new found casual drinking attitude as well the fact that I've raised my normal dinner consumption to two beers or so per plate when just over a year ago, one beer would have been just fine! What the heck is going on?
So, when I got home last night, a light bulb came on and I made a promise to myself and Adelle that starting the day after my 30th, I'll be giving it up...until after my next Sprint Triathlon. Trying to get healthier has been a bit difficult but so far, I've held off on sodas for almost the entire year with some exceptions of an occasional Seagram's Ginger Ale to quench the urge of bubbly. When I finally move in September, I'm already certain, that it'll be a battle no more. I'll be working outside in the yard tending the garden and doing it up farmer's style!
I've linked the picture of "No Beer," to a great article that listed these bullet points. Read 'em and then check out the other referenced article aftewards.
Alcohol is a metabolized differently than other foods and beverages. Alcohol molecules diffuse through the stomach wall and reach the brain and liver in minutes. The liver then focuses primarily on the alcohol, leaving the carbohydrates and dietary fats to be changed into body fat. Changed into body fat?! After all those extreme jacks? No, thank you.
Alcohol is a diuretic. When your body loses water and becomes dehydrated, it loses important minerals that are vital to the maintenance of fluid balance, chemical reactions, and muscle contraction and relaxation. Right now, that glass of wine is not really as relaxing as you think.
Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram and offers NO nutritional value. Alcohol only adds empty calories to your diet. I don’t know about you, but when I’m busting my booty at camp, I want my calories to mean something. No vapid calories.
Alcohol lowers your inhibitions. After consuming alcohol, people are more likely to do things they would not normally do sober. Now stop dancing on that table and get your dirty mind out of the gutter, this is a fitness blog. Alcohol stimulates appetite and reduces willpower. Many people tend to overeat when they are drinking. At least that’s all we’re talking about today.
If you're in town tomorrow night and down for a good old fashioned BBQ and free beer, give me a call or hit my up on facebook or twitter @eejay! Nothing like free beer to celebrate the next decade of fitness, life and family!
I started receiving emails about Trek San Diego's weekly rides but it wasn't until today that I was able to finally participate and ride with the gang. This ride was setup as Trek San Diego's Century Training Week 6 // 45 miles. I invited a few people but when it came down to the final start, it was Matt Krawczak and Brian Dudley that showed up. Granted it was an early 7:30AM start but it was all worth it.
I went to sleep a late last night clocking in only 5 hours of sleep, which on a scale of 1-10, only ranked about a 6. Maybe it was the anticipation of the ride or maybe the fact that I ate an entire California Burrito at 12:30am which served as my carb loading.
I woke up at 5:30am without an alarm and couldn't get back to sleep so I just gathered my things, drank some juices, ate a Fiber One bar and headed out. I still felt full but excited and when I arrived at the parking lot, it only got more more energized.
Starting out the ride, we kept a casual pace saving the energy for the climbs that were along our route. An easy pace throughout until we got to those hills. If you click on the map below, you'll be able to to go through the entire route along with my speed, elevation, heart rate and cadence charts along with a temperature chart. I'll rate this ride also a 6 out of 10. I haven't ridden in such a long time and I've been only targeting 1-1.5 hrs so this was a challenge. Good company all around made it a great ride followed by some burger goodness at Islands!
There are more rides coming up so check out the schedule and don't forget, this training is all for my goal of riding the Tour de Cure Century this upcoming May 7th. Support me by donating anything from $1.00 to whatever you can to help and find a cure for diabetes. Click here to reach my Tour de Cure page.
It happens about once a year and when it does, fun ensues(read: messy goodness). Crab Hut for some pre New Year's Eve dinner
with Adelle's nursing buddies, Courtney & Ty along with
husbands going out for some unknown. It's surprising, yes, that we
have not enjoyed the Crab Hut experience, but we finally dined.
Pictures do an excellent job showing the progression from beginning
to end so enjoy! [nggallery id=8]
Over the last couple of weeks, I've been attending a weekly 5K in San Diego called Nites Moves SD which takes place on every Wednesday night at Liberty Station Park in Pt. Loma. I've been improving constantly (by seconds almost a minute one week ago), finding my rhythm & stride and what I initially thought was good headway. That is, up until last night's performance. I finished a miserable 28:45 which makes it my worse time in four tries! I've been running treadmills a lot lately on a incline of 1.0 at a steady speed of 6.5 / 7.0 so that might have made this run a little slower but I thought that I could best my 27 minute wall. Granted the last few days looked like this:
Monday/Tuesday Morning: I worked all day and was delayed on the flight back to San Diego for 2 hours arriving at 2:00AM not going to bed till shortly after.
Tuesday: Woke up around 8:00am motivating myself for the move to the new apartment in Downtown San Diego. Excited but somewhat exhausted
Tuesday Night: Definitely had a hard time falling asleep being anxious, excited and just new
Wednesday Day: Breakfast was a quick bar, daily mass, meeting w/ our priest to tie up loose ends before the wedding, coffee, head home to pack up more stuff, spill the full venti caramel macchiato in fiance's car, meet up w/ the caterer for finalization and payment, show mom the new apartment, grab lunch at JWok which is conveniently around the corner from our new apartment, head to Vons in PQ, drop off mom, go the bank on the way back to the apartment, get ready for the 5K.
If you notice, my nutrition and liquid intake prior to the 5K wasn't all that great. I didn't get to stretch that well nor was I feeling the tip top shape that I've been use to the previous weeks. It's crunch time and August is a big month . Good times! I'm just glad that it's somewhat smooth sailing from here. *crossing fingers*
Going into tonight, I was all about the stride and keeping up a beat / cadence. I started off strong and on the right note but somewhere after the first 1.2 miles, I lost it. I tried keeping up with a guy that had a great pace but I still limped out and ended up 10 seconds behind him =( It's a little hard, but I'm definitely starting to feel it come into play. The next 12 days are going to be a little erratic being that I'm heading back east and flying again. Crossing the fingers hoping I can be headstrong and motivated to hit the hotel treadmills and local areas. My official time was 27:45 which was great since I was gunning for under 28 mins. I just forgot to stop my Garmin #FAIL
I have to admit that the Tabe BBQ Truck Fish Burrito (I upgraded from the free taco) was AMAZING!!! I wonder if they'll "cater" the rehearsal dinner?
The beginning of this year brought on an onslaught of weather to the eastern seaboard and of course, I got to fly into it, around it and enjoy the flurries. I really can't admit that I it was all joyous work, but it's all in the job description. It's what we are trained to do and must do to bring you safely from Atlanta to who knows where. Here are some shots; one with snow, one at night w/ the moonlight + Venus, and two others one of Atlanta Downtown followed by the Atlanta airport at night viewed from 11,000 feet. All these shot below were taken in the month of January.
Since I was fortunate to have two awesome flight attendants with me during a 40 hour stay in Allentown, Pennsylvania, we rented a car early morning and ventured out to three different vineyards, a chocolate factory as well as the local mountain to check out the slopes. The vineyards were quite awesome, friendly and the various ambiances' were definitely different from the traditional ones here in Southern California. For one, we don't have Ice Wine nor a freezing lake next to a cottage. Peep these.
Sometimes, when I'm sitting in the back of a plane, non-revving, I'm able to snap some awesome up close pics. Here is the airTran Atlanta Falcons themed Boeing 717 and one of Delta's newly modified 767 with winglets! What do you think of these?
Something even more cooler...two of my very good friends, Kurt, who happens to be one of my groomsman and also shares the same birthday, July 28th, had his first child, Jakob with his lovely wife Krysti. Check out the happy father and son!
When I say after the fact, the schedules below depict the times that the aircraft recorded once meeting certain parameters e.g. brakes released or set & passenger door open or close. These were not the original scheduled departure and arrival times but in fact, the true record of my legs or "flight time." I guess you can say that the times in bold represent the time that I actually "fly." The difference between the "Block" and "Credit" is that we get paid for credit while "Block" is the time I'm recorded to be in the aircraft. It doesn't represent the time I spend in the cockpit in between flights or before flights (which is actually represented in the another bold header "Turn"), or the time I'm at the airport on a layover. I'll further explain these "pairings" below in this blog post but for now, here is a picture of a 4-day typical schedule. It's not like there is much to figure out. It's pretty much cut and dry. Following along the on the first line: The first line on my pairing "OSA A7470C" is Flight number 5548/ Originating from ATL (Atlanta-Hartsfield) / Destined to DAY (Dayton, Ohio) / Departed at 14:58 local airport time / Arrived at 16:16local airport time / TailN761ND <-- which is the registration number of the specific aircraft / A/C type being a CR7 (Canadair Regional Jet 700 Series) / Block1:18 (1 hour & 18 minutes flight time) / Credited 1:33 (in other words paid for 1 hour & 33 minutes) / Pax(passengers) on board 70 / Miles from ATL-DAY432 / BurnAv4423 (average fuel burned enroute measured in pounds / Turn 0:44 (time on ground to have the passengers get off, clean the aircraft, cross seatbelts, stock the galley, clean the bathrooms, refuel, input preflight measures, walk around the aircraft for a visual inspection, remove bags, add bags and passengers and close the door) 42 minutes. That's line 1 in my pairing. Pretty much going down through the day, I end up at Little Rock, Arkansas for a layover of 14:26 (14 hours & 26 minutes) where it includes the van ride from the airport to the hotel, the ride back to the airport in the morning, and any sleep that I get in between.
Screen shot 2009-12-24 at 07.04.33 AM
If you take a look on Friday the 18th, I was lucky to actually have a 28 hour overnight in Portland, Maine where I enjoyed some of the world's best known Clam Chowder from Gilbert's Chowder House. (yelp review here)
Everyday, I have a Report time which, and depending on how long the ride is to the airport from the hotel, we leave usually around 15 minutes prior to duty in to ensure ample time to get to the aircraft. Of course, the means I also usually wake up about 1 hour prior to the Report time giving me enough minutes to accomplish the morning routine, throw the uniform together, pack up, eat breakfast and board the airport shuttle or taxi.
There isn't much more to explain really except for the Totals: line telling me that my initial Report time that I have to duty in at the company computers in Atlanta is at 14:00 on the 17th / and I'm Released at 16:46 on the 20th. For those three days, I will be able to log 18 hours & 47 minutes of flight time, get paid for 20 hours and 48 minutes plus my per diem which is calculated by the TAFB(Time Away From Base) 74:46 74 hours & 46 minutes multiplied by our current rate of $1.65 / hr.
At my current rate of 3rd year pay $39.55 /hr * 20.8 --> I pull in around $822.64 + my per diem ($123.36) giving me a total of $946 for this entire pairing. Granted I was away from my family the entire time, it didn't include the time I fly back and forth from San Diego to Atlanta and whatever else you want to add in. I'm not whining really, but this is a sample of just a week in the life of a pilot. Now, the missing link in this bigger picture is the amount of duty time that I put in between flights that I didn't get paid for. In other words, I was actually working or at work whatever, for about 32 hours and 2 minutes total during these three days; in my uniform, and not resting. Keyword being resting. That's clearly a deficiency of 12 hours just hanging around the various airports. <-- Not fun. (Add up the Duty on the bottom ride side of each day to get the total figure) Now, why is that pilots are only paid for block / credit time, it started long long ago during the birth of the industry and hasn't changed since. It's a mixture of corporate greed (if that's what you want to call it) and FAA regulations governing flight time in a given period for pilots.
I usually have 4 of these trips a month, sometimes only 3. Hope you enjoyed the explanation. Any questions? Please leave a comment below.
(if you are interested any further, many if not all US airlines' payscales are available to the public listed under each airline profile at http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines/)
After a few weeks of postponement, I hopped on an American Airlines 737 aircraft from ATL to MIA, arrived and satisfied my breakfast hunger with Cuban sandwich along with Cuban coffee. After being delayed for 2 hours for mechanical issues, I finally took off to MGA in an American Airlines 767 (paid $80 for my ZED fare because I cannot jumpseat on American Airlines internationally unlike other domestic carriers), rode a KIA branded taxi for 1.5 hours and arrived at Los Cardones. Granted this was another solo adventure but the purpose was to scout out the place and more importantly hang out with great company.
A few weeks back, I recently found out that one of my high school gal-friends, took up a 6 month gig to work as managers for the "resort." Whatever the cost, I had to go visit and hang out. As most of you may know (or not know), I'm always down for anything. Upon arriving at the resort dressed inappropriately in business attire, I was greeted by her, taken to my cabana and changed. I was steaming and my wool pants had to come off!
Thoughts of picking up a surfboard and hitting the beach right away were lingering especially after watching Chris hit the waves, but I was feeling more of a mellow tone. After a while, I decided that it was going to be just a day of rest. The night simply concluded with a wonderfully prepared dinner by Adam and chatter of what the next morning would bring. It was a long day for me and this is exactly what I needed.
Through the next few days, I would eat 3 meals a day which were prepared VERY well, surf in the morning then just hang out the rest of the day. I didn't do that much except for the random hike around the facility, sleep in an awesome hammock for a few hours, talk it up with friends and just pass the time. It's been a while since I actually got to feel the second hand tick as the minutes at the resort lagged on by. Being "unplugged" was a great feeling, but sometimes I felt like I was missing things. Time was therefore just standing still at certain times but it was a good thing.
Some of you may not realize, but I've been minimal-izing my life as of late. Coming down from an awesome high, I'm loving it more and more. Sometimes I'm tempted here and there, but simplicity and happiness is where it's at. This vacation made me realize it once again that with an ocean, good friends and food, life can be truly gratifying.
Videos and more pictures after the jump!
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I uploaded little tours of the resort to my youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/enicolas and you can watch the videos there or right here down below! The first one is of the resort and the second is of my living quarters. Check them out and leave a comment here or on my youtube page!
I did it...my first attempt at Torrey Pines was a success. I kept my cadence up and felt pretty good once I got to the top. It was my first time riding by myself in a while and without surprise it definitely isn't as fun. It paid off as I got a ride back home once I reached my destination. As a matter of fact, I had it in me to bike back home along the same route and make a it a roundtrip but my phone was at 10% and I didn't want to get stuck somewhere without it just incase anything happened i.e. I'm too tired to ride up back the 56 bike path.
After the ride, I hung out for about an hour until Adelle got off of her 12 hour shift at Scripps La Jolla Hospital, headed to Robertos in Carmel Valley for some Carne Asada Fries then over to Yogurt World in Mira Mesa. Good eats for sure!
Thanks to that special someone that wrote in chalk along the bike path some motivational notes. In the beginning of the climb, there was in bright pink, "Almost there," followed by a "Dig Deep," then another,"Just kidding, a little more to go," and then the final, "You made it!" There was also a message saying,"Happy Birthday to D _ _ _ _." Some pretty awesome stuff to read while you struggle up the little hill.
Of all the randomness in flying for the Delta Connection Carrier, Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) based solely out of Atlanta, my four day schedule had an assignment that was to operate a Cincinnati to Miami roundtrip. New to me and apparently pretty new to the system I might add. Last summer, I got to fly the Miami system through Tallahassee, Florida and that was a blast, so I was really looking forward to this trip. I would have loved an overnight in MIA but I guess we won't be doing any of those in the near future.
Flying towards Miami, we noticed that the normal summer cloud build-ups were in every quadrant. It was going to be all about the quick turn. Looking at our schedule, we also noticed that we had more than ample time to grab some Cuban Coffee and a sandwich. Coffee was a success but the sandwich place closed I guess. Massive fail as I was left to eat a Meat Stromboli from Sbarros. Definitely not the Cuban Sandwich I was hoping for.
I did my walk around and of course it stated to sprinkle a bit. Just enough to get me a little damp but not dripping. Flying out of Miami was a lot of fun though. Departing 8R we made a turn to the north and was vectored toward the northwest in order to get around and through some cloud build-up. Fun stuff! Check out the radar and the cloud picture of the cavern we flew through!
An of course after we landed in Cincinnati Airport which many of you might not know is 1) a ghost town since Delta has slowly changed all of its routing and deleted many flights from the CVG system 2) is actually located in Northern Kentucky. Check it out on this map:
We made our way to one of the nicer hotels we stay at, Hilton Airport, and then we headed out to celebrate my birthday. Happy hour at Applebees has become the common theme with overnights lately just because the deals are too good to pass up and there's nothing else nearby! We had a couple of drinks, great appetizers but I chose the liquid diet last night. Fun times! On the walk back to the hotel, we hit up Rafferty's for some of there fine honey butter croissants the called it a night. Good times guys and thanks for the great night!
