Month: January 2013

Posted on

Me…with contacts

Me with contacts

I had needed an eye exam but had been putting it off.  That is until my glasses broke.  Well, when I went, they were running a special…free eye exams.  My insurance will pay for one exam per year so I thought I’d go back for a contact lens exam.  Turns out, that was free too.  Now, a bit of background….

About 20 years ago in Hermann, MO I gave contacts a go.  However, my eyes were bad enough that to get the correction I needed, I had to get gas permeable contacts (as opposed to soft ones).  I never did get used to them moving on my eyes and gave up on them.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I picked up my contacts, they showed me how to insert/remove them, and sent me on the way with 5 trial pairs of daily lenses. 

Initial results:

  1. I can’t see as well as I can with glasses.  Although, my vision is corrected to 20/20 with contacts, it is corrected to something like 20/10 with glasses.
  2. The dr said that would get better as my eyes adjusted to the contacts
  3. I didn’t notice them in my eyes too much.  I expect as I get used to them, that will go away
  4. Because of #1, I doubt I’ll wear them 100% of the time.

[Update 2013-02-02 06:27:28] A write-up is here after me wearing contacts for the second day.

[Update 2013-02-04 18:46:42] I had day 5 of my trial.  I blogged about days 3, 4, and 5 here.

Posted on

Transformer Question

Step Up/Down Voltage Transformer Converter, 750 Watts

Here’s a question for everyone:  does a transformer use electricity if there is no load on it?  If so, how much?  The max or whatever it is drawing?  Here’s why I’m asking:

We have a 220v to 110v transformer (rated at 500w I think).  I have my xbox plugged into it because I can’t find a goofy aftermarket power supply for my xbox here in the UK (well, I found one, but it eventually started going bad and making electric noise that tanked my internet speed when it was on).  If my xbox is off–assuming no load on the transformer–is any electricity being consumed.  I don’t see how, but I don’t know too much about transformers either…..

Image from Karmor via flickr

Posted on

Cornbread

Cornbread

Here’s a question:  do you put sugar in your cornbread?  

For me, there isn’t a stitch of sugar in cornbread.  Add some sugar and you might as well put frosting on it and call it cake.  Jiffy mix is even worse.

Image from davidpbaxter via flickr

Posted on

Getting Ready for Prague — Day 22 of 101

Champion Bodybuilders in kuwait 2 June2010

FatSecret for 23 Jan 2013
Weight:  110 kg (-1kg)
Waist:  47.5 in (+.5)
Neck: 16.75 in (0)
Body Fat as reported by DietAndFitnessToday:  34.64
Total Weight Loss:  8 kg (from high of 118 kg)

Note, there will be no posts for 24 Jan – 28 Jan (Days 23 – 27)

Also note, I haven’t posted an actual picture of me yet because I don’t want to make guys like on the left feel bad.  That’s also the same reason I turned down A&E when they offered me a job standing in swimming trunks and no shirt in front of their store.

Image from Kuwait-Ra’ed Qutena via flickr

Posted on

Amazon Cloud Pictures

AmazonCloudPictures

Cyndi and I use flickr to host our pictures.  I think it is a great deal:  $25 for a whole year and unlimited pictures.  But there is no automatic way to get pictures from our Android phones onto flickr.  Google has built this functionality into their google + app.  Western Digital has an app that will upload pictures to certain types of their hard drives.  The flickr app doesn’t support it.  Google used to provide unlimited space for full size pictures if you had a plus account; however, they changed that and now only provide 5GB space free for full-size images (unlimited for 2048×2048 size images).

Yesterday, Amazon sent an email about their new Cloud Photos app.  They’ll give you 5GB free; however, it links in with their Amazon Cloud Storage.  About a year ago, we started paying Amazon $20/year to let us upload our MP3 collection to their Cloud Music Player app.  Think flickr but for music.  And, along with that, we also get 20GB cloud storage.  They’ve changed the program slightly since then…Current prices should be here.  We weren’t using but 10MB of the space for a small truecrypt volume holding our passwords and had loads of space.

So, from using it for 12 hours, the app will auto upload pictures to your Amazon Cloud Drive (both on and off wifi).  You can also choose pictures to upload.  When you look at your cloud drive, you get some organization; however, I’ve yet to try it with multiple devices.

At this point in time, I would certainly recommend the Cloud Music service.  If you have a subscription to that service that includes space you aren’t using, why not?

Posted on

Getting Ready for Prague — Day 21 of 101

Fitness.xpress (8)

Note, free day 19 Jan 2013.  No exercise or tracking 20 Jan 2013 (Sunday).  Yesterday was a snow day for Lydia…I slept in.

FatSecret for 22 Jan 2013
Weight:  111 kg (3kg+)
Waist:  47.5 in (+.5)
Neck: 17 in (+.25)
Body Fat as reported by DietAndFitnessToday:  34.33
Total Weight Loss:  7 kg (from high of 118 kg)

I know, I’m going the wrong way.  Saturday was my free day.  I didn’t work out yesterday.  I didn’t eat all that bad; however, I didn’t drink enough water.  Two days of that, and I should be back on track.

Image from aktivioslo via flickr

Posted on

1 year ago

One year ago, I was in the states for the funeral of my Grandpa Maxson.  Well, technically, I left the UK on 19 January 2012 and the funeral was on the 23rd.

Here’s all of us at the entrance to the Gros Ventre Wilderness area in Wyoming on our Elk Hunting trip in 2003:

IMG_3350

Here’s a picture from my plane ride to the US and the funeral itself.

IMG_20120119_131626 IMG_20120123_124124