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Showing posts with label musings/thoughts/ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musings/thoughts/ideas. Show all posts
GE X500 Power Series Review
I recently purchased a new GE X500 Power Series digital camera with 16 megapixel and 15x optical zoom, 27mm wide angle lens, image stabilization, 2.7’ LCD, 3200 ISO, face auto exposure, auto scene mode, pancapture, and smile/blink/face detection.
Right out of the box this impressively inexpensive camera looks like one of the big boys, and has a lot of power and features to make it comparable to some of the other point and shoot / LSR cams out there. The camera itself only weighs in at 2lbs and is comfortable to hold with its ergonomic design.
The fully extendable lens makes getting those far away shots a breeze with the 15x optical zoom. I was able to stand about 40 yards away and was able to take a clear picture of a couple sitting on a bench.
I took the picture in both black and white and on vivid color modes. The Black and White picture was at 10x zoom, the color photo was at 7x zoom and I was about 40 yards away from them.
As you can see from both photos there is no loss of quality or distortion as there are in other camera’s on the market, which makes this a nice camera for beginners and hobbyists alike. Also being at this distance you can really tell that the image stabilizer helped.
The other thing that I love about this camera is the manual flash. It stays closed until you press the release button thus opening it, and its instantly charged. The other great thing about this camera is the large 2.7’ LCD screen.
I’ve had camera’s in the past that have had nice LCD screens but this one takes the cake. I was shooting on a sunny day, above a beach, and I had no problem seeing the screen, unlike some cameras that force you to have to cover them to see the display. Another great thing about the display is the button on the top right corner that reads LCD/EVF. The GE X500 Power Series is equipped with an Electronic View Finder which is a neat and unexpected feature that I wasn’t aware of when purchasing this camera. You also have the choice of turning the display off to conserve battery life. However, I don’t know about you but I use the LCD screen to frame my shots. For power the camera is ran on 4 AA batteries 
While playing around with it, because you know like most men we never read an instruction manual, and prefer to meander through learning any new piece of tech like a monkey doing a math problem. That being said….Navigation of this camera is a bit confusing. Depending on the setting that you have it on depends on what menu options you have. It wasn’t until about 15minutes of messing with it that I found the settings for vivid color, black and white, and sepia. I also discovered some boarders for special ‘framing’ of pictures which was sadly lacking as they are very generic but still fun and whimsical.
There are also some fun camera modes like fish eye effect and one called sketch which makes the whole picture look like it was drawn with a pencil.
The next feature the Pancapture mode is by far the best surprise about this camera. I have never taken a panoramic picture before so I was a little scared when doing it, but the on screen navigation for this function was simple to use and follow. When you take set the camera up it asks you which direction you are wanting to film from, you use the directional keys and make your selection. Then you take your first shot and a line with a + at the end shows you where to move your camera to. If you fail to line the shot up you have to start all over again, but as soon as you line up it snaps the second shot and moves to the third and final shot, resulting in crisp full shots.
The GE X500 also allows for you to record movies which makes it like a high price handycam too. You still have access to some of the features that you do with the camera part of it, like the full zoom, image stabilization, and clean crisp audio.
All and All I give the GE X500 Power Seriesem> camera a 8 out of 10 stars. For the price it’s a great camera. However, menu navigation is not intuitive. The user manual is on a CD so there isnt a paper copy you can keep with you while you are out and about. I recommend this camera for anyone who wants to start taking pictures or are looking for a new camera to buy. I did some shopping around and found this camera ranging from $119 – $140 and refurbished from about $90 – $100. I first saw the camera at Wal-Mart and it was on sale. I looked on eBay, Amazon, CircuitCity.com, Frys.com, NewEgg.com, and TigerDirect.com and found that Amazon had the best deal. For $144.00 I was able to get a packaged deal that included the GE X500, a set of rechargeable batteries, a tripod, a 8gb memory card, a USB card reader, lens care kit, and a camera bag.
The other nice thing about having shopped on Amazon, was that I was able to find a 2 year replacement warranty that included drops and spills for $30 that covered $150-$170. For for $206 after taxes it was shipped.
I am super happy with it, and am looking forward to taking many great pictures. So if your on the market for a new camera, check out this guy.
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Day 5 of Oil Pulling Therapy
I have hit the 'cold like symptoms' part of it. I tired to wake up this morning and felt like crap. After having gone back to bed I'm feeling better. It is so strange to me how this stuff is working. I went to be last night feeling fine and woke up this morning with my head feeling like it was 40lbs and the size of a beach ball. But I was thankfully able to go back to bed.
I have been using sesame seed oil, of which I love the taste, my sister is using coconut oil. When I spit my oil out it looks like a very milky coffee, but I think that is due to the oil being a dark brown color, that and I do have a few problems with my teeth. But we shall see if this clears those problems up or not, this therapy is suppose to remove all the toxins and stuff from your body, and so far it seems like its working.
I have hit the 'cold like symptoms' part of it. I tired to wake up this morning and felt like crap. After having gone back to bed I'm feeling better. It is so strange to me how this stuff is working. I went to be last night feeling fine and woke up this morning with my head feeling like it was 40lbs and the size of a beach ball. But I was thankfully able to go back to bed.
I have been using sesame seed oil, of which I love the taste, my sister is using coconut oil. When I spit my oil out it looks like a very milky coffee, but I think that is due to the oil being a dark brown color, that and I do have a few problems with my teeth. But we shall see if this clears those problems up or not, this therapy is suppose to remove all the toxins and stuff from your body, and so far it seems like its working.
I have hit the 'cold like symptoms' part of it. I tired to wake up this morning and felt like crap. After having gone back to bed I'm feeling better. It is so strange to me how this stuff is working. I went to be last night feeling fine and woke up this morning with my head feeling like it was 40lbs and the size of a beach ball. But I was thankfully able to go back to bed.
Buying Homes for the Homeless Would Actually Save Money
The homeless will always be with us. No one wants to hire them, and there's no way society can afford to just give them a place to live. When a dude is sleeping in a box he found in the alleyway and eating rats cooked over a cigarette lighter, it's sad, but he's not costing us anything -- at most, he costs whatever spare change he collects in his hat every day.
But has anyone gone ahead and calculated the actual cost of keeping someone alive and homeless? Someone did! And it's around a million dollars.
"This city is my mansion, and you're all terribly ungrateful butlers."
Wait, What?
First of all, as a society we're not cool with just letting poor people die in the streets. So while we don't provide housing, we do provide emergency room care. It's counterintuitive, but this begrudging little bit of help actually winds up costing society way more than if we just went the whole way.
Why? Well, it should come as a surprise to nobody that living on the street is kind of unhealthy, and that's before the depression and its accompanying substance abuse come into play. For example, Boston Health Care for the Homeless tracked 119 chronically homeless people for five years. In that time, those 119 people racked up an astounding 18,834 emergency room visits, despite the fact that 33 of them died and seven were placed in a nursing home during that time. In Washington in 2002, 198 individuals generated 9,000 emergency room visits, or a little under one a week. At a minimum of $1,000 a visit, that's a heck of a medical bill that those hospitals are trying to collect from a homeless person. Unless they have a really good day panhandling, that money is coming out of your pocket.
"You mean this won't cover my co-pay?"
Add in the annual cost of $24,000 if they take advantage of a shelter, plus the cost of the police to arrest and process those who misbehave (plus the round-the-clock housing, feeding and guarding they get once they're in jail), and it all adds up to a tidy sum for taxpayers to handle. Experts say it really would be cheaper just to house them and treat them.
For instance, a San Diego program found that "When patients were connected with housing, income benefits, health insurance and a primary care home, a 61 percent decrease in emergency department visits and a 62 percent decrease in inpatient days occurred over two years." Statistically, a person just doesn't get as sick, and doesn't get into as much trouble, once they have a roof over their head.
"... and no more lighter rats for me. It's strictly propane rats from now on."
The general public, of course, would never go for this idea, on principle alone. But it turns out principle is expensive as hell. And if you automatically rebel against the idea of giving free houses to hobos, you're going to hate this next one even more ..
Oil Pulling Therapy
So recently I was introduced to the concept of Oil Pulling Therapy. My sisters doctor who is from India told her about this treatment which is supposedly able to cure a slew of different aliments. Since my sisters doctor had put her on the Raw Vegan diet/lifestyle my sister has lost over 60lbs in 3 months. So I figured that I would give this oil pulling thing a try.
Today was my first day in doing the treatment, and I have to say that it was a very interesting experience. What you do is you brush your teeth and scrape your tongue really good, take a table spoon of
I was cautioned however, that after about a week of doing this treatment that you may start to experience cold like symptoms but that is because your pulling all of the toxins and other build up out of your system. I noticed after I was done besides my nose running like crazy, that I had a strong sesame flavor in my mouth for most of the day, not the worst thing since I love sesame. Im going to keep doing it for about 60 days and see if I notice any difference and I will try to keep everyone posted about it.
Paying Children for Good Grades Pays Off in the Long Run
You're probably thinking that we already place enormous value on our grades. Many of us worked our asses off for 12 years just so we could get into college to study some more. But since the average college graduate earns about half a million dollars more in their lifetime than someone with just a high school diploma, you have to wonder, do we really value our grades enough? Research suggests that we'd all be better off if we opened our wallets and paid our kids to study.
Wait, What?
This is an outrage! Nobody paid you to go to school! Those little spoiled brats should be thankful they even have school!
But here's something funny about minors: They a) don't like to listen to adults and b) aren't the best long-term planners. When we tell 12-year-olds to earn good grades so that, in more than five years, they can go to a place where they have to earn more good grades to have a better chance at having a great job five years after that, they had already stopped listening before we got halfway through the sentence. Kids need more immediacy in their rewards. In short, you need to bribe them.
A Harvard University economist analyzed what happened when schools paid their students to study. And guess what? The grades improved, the students were more likely to go to college and get hired, and sales of music designed to piss off parents probably rose 500 percent. But that's probably not all that surprising -- what was especially crazy in this study was that the students earned better grades even when they were paid just for showing up.
In other words: Just treat school like a job.
So let's say we pay an eighth grader $20 a week to attend school until graduation. That amounts to a little over five grand. If she graduates, she will earn more money, which means she will pay more tax -- around $2,400 more. Which means that, within two years, we break even on the investment. Continue the principle throughout college, and it's all dollar signs, according to this chart:
This is why the District of Columbia recently announced that it would be paying kids to attend summer school. Again, it seems kind of cynical. But then again ... what are we afraid of? That we're not preparing these kids for what to expect in the adult world? Where people don't do things purely for financial incentive?
I know I personally would have worked harder in school if I got paid $20 a week to be there, and if my parents paid me for good grades I would have been rolling in the money and would have retired by the time I graduated High School.
Gust Blog Posts
As many of you have probably seen I have been posting a lot of Sponsored / Guest blogs lately and Im sorry about that. I have reviewed my contracts and they don’t say that I have to list them on the front page of my blog so Im going to try to move them to a sub-section of the blog so that they don’t take up to much space in the main content feed. However, should my employers say anything then I will probably have to move them back, because I need to get paid also. So here is to trying
If you want me to review something then just send me an email to hellocupcakeitsme@gmail.com and I will take a look at it.
To much going on
So I have a friend who I really truly and dearly love who has come to see some other friends here in Washington, However, I would love to go see her but there just isnt any room for me to see her at our mutual friends houses, and its really upsetting me because I haven’t seen her in 4 or 5 years.
Its right on the Portland, OR and Washington boarder. My biological mother lives in Portland, however, she drives me crazy and its really not the best of living situations. I have found a way for me to get down to see Jen for less than $40 which anyone who knows, that is super cheap for travel (especially since that’s round trip)
The other problem that I am having is that I am having some serious anxiety issues regarding trying to figure out routes and schedules and things like that.
I don’t know what to do. Should I stay or should I go.
Where are the links at?
Hey there people, I did some remodeling on the site, and moved some links around and what have you. So you will find all the same information just grouped together to make the site look nicer.
If there is any information you would like to add or have me review please feel free to send me an email hellocupcakeitsme@gmail.com
glucagon emergency kit
Well my Diabetes doctor gave me Glucagon the other day. If you don’t know what this is, its and Epipen for diabetics.
Basically its this large 3 step process which is suppose to be done if you are having a low and wont wake up. What happens is when you mix the little vile with the liquid in the syringe and then draw it back into the pen and inject it into the person with diabetes, it is giving them a huge sugar rush, which is kind of good thing since if you are passed out with a glucose level of 59 or lower you may just need it.
I have instructed the family to test me first because I am a Hyperglycemic I don’t want them to turn my blood into syrup lol. Anyways its something that I think all Diabetics should have on hand just in case.
The Undeniable Relationship Between Exercise and Health
These days, it seems like it is more difficult than ever for most of us to find the time to exercise. We are busier than ever and often times, we have other obligations that we put above our own well-being. And while we have all heard the doctor's recommendation that we should be getting at least thirty minutes of moderate physical exercise on a daily basis, the truth is that an overwhelming majority of us live relatively sedentary lives, where we spend the majority of our days in front of a computer screen, sitting at a desk.
The time has come to change that, however. The truth is that if you want to live a long and healthy life, you are going to want to start taking that doctor's recommendation seriously. Not only will you find that you have more energy and feel better about yourself overall, but you may even find that you will lose some weight and start fitting into some of your clothes a little better. Exercising regularly is a win-win, and even though it may seem difficult to find the time or motivation to do it regularly, there are some fun and effective exercise options that you may want to try as a way of getting in shape and living a healthier life.
Fun Outdoor Exercises
The key to getting into an exercise routine that you will actually be able to stick to is finding things that keep you active and that you actually enjoy doing. After all, the reason that so many people give up on their exercise routines is that they simply dread doing them on a regular basis. Many people do not realize that exercise can actually be fun, especially when done outdoors in the great wide open.
For example, try finding a team sport that you enjoy and that allows you to partake in physical activity. You may consider joining a local house soccer team. If team sports aren't so much your thing or you do not have the time for that kind of commitment, try taking regular bike rides or even investing in a great pair of roller blades. Not only are these activities fun, but they are also great forms of exercise.
Running is also an amazing form of exercise that burns calories and can get your body into great shape. Of course, you should be sure to invest in a great pair of running shoes for foot and arch support if you decide to take on running seriously. In addition, be sure to gradually build up your running abilities; do not expect to be able to run a 5k within the first week. However, if you keep at it, you will be surprised at how much you can improve in just a few weeks or so.
You can find all kinds of other fun outdoor exercises, such as rock climbing and hiking, online at the following website.
Great Indoor Exercises
Of course, the weather is not always perfect for outdoor exercises. In many areas, you may experience frigid winters that make it difficult to get out and partake in much physical activity. Still, this is no excuse to stop exercising, as there are plenty of fun workouts that you can accomplish from the comfort of your own home. Consider, for example, investing in treadmills or ellipticals for your home. A treadmill is a great way to simulate running outside, while an elliptical is the perfect option for those looking for a low impact yet still effective workout. In addition, to keep your indoor workouts from getting dull, consider trying a workout DVD series, and also try new forms of exercise on a regular basis, such as Pilates or yoga.
Overall, staying in shape is as easy as getting regular exercise, and all it takes to stick to a workout regimen is to find one that you can look forward to doing on a daily basis. Of course, it is a good idea to give your body a break from time to time for a day or two, but by keeping on with your daily workouts, you will improve your overall health and well being!
Being Unprepared
Ok so your out and about, or maybe even at work and you start having a high blood sugar, and you look through your bag/desk/briefcase and you find that you are out of insulin or pen needles….WHAT DO YOU DO?
Well currently that is the situation that I am in right now as I sit here writing this blog post. My sugar is over 600mg I am feeling really light headed and faint. Because I have been on U500 which has maintained my sugars for a while, I have had a high sugar, high carb packed dinner, midnight snack, morning, and afternoon. I usually keep my Humalog Qwikpen on me with a pen needle in it at all times. Well apparently when I last did my shot using that pen it got plugged up. I know that your suppose to use them only once but well I reuse them about 8 times before throwing them away. SO the question comes to this…WHAT DO YOU DO? Well back in the early days when I just got diagnosed and was still in the hospital they said to drink LOTS of water and to do some exercise. Well Im going to drink some water and see if that helps otherwise Im going to try to walk if I don’t just lay down on the floor and take a nap until I can go home at 3:30pm.
*le sigh*
I love the emotional rollercoaster that I have been on lately. It seems that at the most inopportune moments that I get totally bitch slapped with bouts of depression and despair. I really have been doing better but it just seems like there is always that damnable sword of Damocles hanging over my head. I have been trying to spend more time out and about with friends and family. But it just seems like that I am stuck looking in the past and that is a dangerous thing to do. I posed the question on Facebook the other night “WHEN”, it was a great question because I feel like that all the time…when am I going to find someone who will love me….when will I be happy….when will I finally feel free…ect
So yeah, that is how I’ve been feeling. And because of my depression, I stop using my insulin, and then my sugars go all over the place, and then all I want to do is sleep when I should be out doing something. IDK maybe im asking to much of myself.
Changing up your shot site
Doctors tell us when we are first diagnosed with Diabetes that we need to change up our shot site and not to use the same one over and over. However, they never mentioned that this could happen. This is Lipohypertrophy. The male patient had developed two fatty masses as a result of decades of injecting insulin into the same two sites. It is most commonly known as “Bottom Belly” as it resembles a butt.
I know this much for sure, on top of being diabetic and having to shoot myself 3-8 times a day, I don’t need this adding to the list of crap wrong with me.
Happy Birthday Hellocupcakeitsme.com
That’s right 2 years ago today I began Hellocupcakeitsme.com as a means to help me deal with being diabetic, and to deal with being bipolar and having other medical and mental health issue. Though I have streamed off course with my original mission and goal in mind, I have seen this blog blossom into something that I had never dreamt of.
Through the last 2 years, I have seen growth both physically and spiritually. It is amazing how something as simple as a blog which is nothing more than an electronic diary can take on a life of its own, and guide not only yourself but others. I have seen through my readership and responses on YouTube the way that my videos and posts have helped others.
I am so grateful that I have been able to help so many others along side of helping myself.
It is a journey and one that I am glad to continue down. It is my hope to take this blog to the next step and really use it to help others, as well as myself. I am asking you my readers to help me help you. I know many of you have asked for me to post more personal updates and so that is a promise that I am going to try and uphold this coming year. Please if you have any additional questions comments or concerns please let me know and I will try my best to address them.
Thank you for a wonderful two years and heres to many more to come !!!
Something to think about…
I woke up this morning and this flowed out of me, I feel that it is something that we all need to think about and apply to our lives.
If there was just one thing that you were able to find out about your future what would it be? And how would knowing that one thing change who you are today? And why would knowing it change you you are today?
Why are you not being the best 'YOU' you can be, and why would news from your future self change that? No ones future is set in stone. We use the past to determine the future, but what if you come from a broken and troubled past? Are those the building blocks you wish to use to shape your future? Or are we so flawed that we find peace in chaos and know not what we do and continue to repeat the actions of our past?
Through mediation and thought we can find those links to the past and the direction we sail now. YOU and only you can inspire the happiness you seek. By placing positive energies into the world, you will bring forth the happiness you seek. Step outside your box and learn to do without return.
When you help others you are opening positive flows of energy to take you down a new path. Whit so much evil and negative energy in the world why add to it by being evil and negative yourself? A flower doesn't because its full of evil intent, it blooms because it absorbs the light and love of the universe.
And because of it we become happy when we see its beauty and take time to smell its perfume, and take it as a symbol of love when given to someone else.
If you were to die today, what would your legacy be? What would you be remembered for by those you leave behind? You by no means need to be worshiped as an idol when you pass. But would you be missed because of your loving nature, or remembered for those times of your greatest evil?
Take a few moments today to reflect on your life and what you want it to be in 6 months from now and 1 year from that and 5 years from that and so on... What are your actions today doing to you and those around you? What webs are you spinning when you lie, and did you need to lie?
How do you want to live, how do you want to be remembered. What good is hard work without true payoff?
Before I Die–post taken from candychang.com
Before I Die originally posted http://candychang.com/before-i-die-in-nola/
I DO NOT OWN THE COPYRIGHT TO THIS POST, I COPY AND PASTE IT TO SHARE. IF REQUESTED BY CANDYCHANG I WILL REMOVE.
What is important to you 2011-present
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget what really matters to you. When I lost someone I loved very much, I thought about death a lot. This helped clarify my life, the people I want to be with, and the things I want to do, but I struggled to maintain perspective. I wanted to know what was important to the people around me and I wanted a daily reminder. So with help from old and new friends, I painted the side of an abandoned house in my neighborhood in New Orleans with chalkboard paint and stenciled it with the sentence “Before I die I want to _______.” so anyone walking by can pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on their lives, and share their personal aspirations in public space.
It was all an experiment and I didn’t know what to expect. By the next day the wall was entirely filled out and it kept growing. Before I die I want to… sing for millions, see my daughter graduate, eat all the candy and sushi in the world, straddle the International Date Line, be someone’s cavalry, live off the grid, build a school, hold her one more time, abandon all insecurities, be completely myself… People’s responses made me laugh out loud, tear up, and feel consolation during my own tough times. The wall transformed a neglected space into a constructive one. It helped us understand our neighbors in new and enlightening ways. It showed us we are not alone. It provided a contemplative space to restore perspective and remember why we want to be alive in the world today.
I created the original wall in February of 2011 and after receiving hundreds of requests, my Civic Center colleagues and I created a Before I Die toolkit and the project site beforeidie.cc to help people make a wall with their community. You can also download all files for free to remix or create your own stencils. Thanks to passionate people, over 50 Before I Die walls have been created in over 10 languages and in over 20 countries, including Kazakhstan, South Africa, Portugal, Japan, and Argentina. Each wall is unique and reflects the people of that community and each wall is a tribute to living an examined life. The project shows you don’t need a big budget to make a big impact. It also pushes the boundaries of what our public spaces are fundamentally made of. With more ways to share our hopes, fears, and stories in public space, the people around us can not only help us make better places, they can help us lead better lives.
Visit the project website beforeidie.cc for more walls, tools, and resources to make your own wall! FollowBeforeIDieWall on Twitter for the latest news. Have you created a Before I Die wall or remix? Please send your photos and stories to hello@beforeidie.cc!
“One of the most creative community projects ever.” - The Atlantic
Developed with support from the Black Rock Arts Foundation. February 2011 and beyond. 41′ x 8′, Chalkboard paint, stencils, spray paint, chalk. New Orleans, LA. With permission from the property owner, residents of the block, the neighborhood association’s blight committee, the Historic District Landmarks Commission, the Arts Council, and the City Planning Commission. Installation assistance: Kristina Kassem, Alan Williams, Cory Klemmer, Anamaria Vizcaino, James Reeves, Alex Vialou, Earl Carlson, and Gary Hustwit. You have permission to use photos below for publicity of the project. Photos by Civic Center, unless credited otherwise.
The first stencil
First responses
Within 24 hours of stenciling the wall.
Kristina Kassem Once the wall was filled to the max or looking janky, we washed i
t down and started over again.
Update Sept 22, 2011: After seven months, the first wall comes to a happy end: the house will be turned into a home again thanks to new owners. We painted over the wall and stenciled one last thing – something Wendell Pierce said a few months ago that has stayed with Candy since: “Our thoughts are to the individual as our art is to the community.” It was ready to go but from the ashes come more.
Update Sept 22, 2011: After receiving many requests, we created a Before I Die toolkit to help people make a wall with their community! It includes a one-column stencil made of thick mylar so it’s easy to hang rigid against a wall. It also includes a title stencil, a guide, metal chalk holders, gloves, and chalk. All files are also available for free download if you’d like to create your own stencils.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Brooklyn. Photo above by Shake Shack
Brooklyn. Photo above by Shake Shack
Johannesburg. Photo from facebook.com/BeforeIDieSA
Savannah. Photo above by Trevor Coe
Querétaro, Mexico
Thanks to your passion, this participatory public art project is expanding to countries around the world, including Kazakhstan, Mexico, Italy, Australia, Portugal, Argentina, and beyond! See other walls on the project site www.beforeidie.cc and follow BeforeIDieWall on Twitter for the latest news. Have you created a Before I Die wall or remix? Please send your photos and stories to hello@beforeidie.cc!
“Death can inspire life. Especially in New Orleans, on the corner of Marigny and Burgundy, where the Before I Die project has used the specter of urban decay and death to create art and inspire. Using a boarded up house as a canvas, artist Candy Chang transformed a haunting reminder of blight and divestment into a powerful affirmation of human life and imagination.” – Life and Times
