Your Daily Dose Of Beauty

Truth For The Day

Why Do I Hate Exercising?

I should be on a yoga mat right now. If I didn't have back pain, I would probably never touch a yoga mat. Ironically, my back is stiff, and I need to do yoga to get physical relief yet I don't want to do it.

Every week it's the same thing ... me coaxing myself onto a yoga mat. Okay, coaxing is the wrong word. It's more like strong arming myself onto the mat. There are many times when my inner couch potato wins, and I end up doing nothing but staring at my yoga mat. Sometimes yoga feels good. Sometimes it feels good to be strong, and it's always fun to flex my arm muscles and see the results of my efforts at torturing myself.

However, I didn't do yoga for over a week while I was back in North Carolina. When I returned to the mat a few days ago, it was pure torture. After only a week I was huffing and puffing through my usual 45 minute routine. I knew I was getting a good workout and felt great afterward. I always feel good about myself after a rigorous exercise routine, but today, like so many days I am dreading the mat.

I read something recently that said if you hate exercise, it's because it's not fun. The fact that I frequently use the word torture to describe yoga is not good. I read a book a long time ago by John Gray that said you will not do exercise over the long term that is too strenuous. I like to power walk up and down the mild hills in my neighborhood, but I've always been told it's not enough. You need to do strength training.

I was so gung ho about the dietitian's recommendations until I actually started to try them. I've discovered I hate broccoli. I use to like butternut squash but trying to eat it without salt makes me want to gag. Ironically, it was fully of potassium on the nutrition label, which my dad says is hidden salt so obviously I wasn't going to shake more salt on top of it. I guess I'm going to have to nix broccoli and butternut squash off my list. Thank God for corn, peas and string beans.

Okay, I'm going to force myself on the mat after this little session of self-talk therapy, but I've really got to make exercise more fun. Here's to finding a swing set real soon.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

This is such a great show and long overdue! Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution premiered March 26th on ABC. You can catch it for the next several weeks on Friday nights at 9pm. Jamie travels to Huntington, West Virginia, a town that has been labeled America's most unhealthy city. With staggering obesity rates and health problems galore, Jamie exposes where the real problems begin with eating in America ... our children. He reveals kids being served nothing but processed finger foods and even pizza for breakfast. For me, there were so many heartbreaking moments on the show but three of those moments stood out in particular.

Jamie showed a group of kids all the desired parts of a chicken and then explained to them that the remaining skin fat, innards, bone and marrow were ground up to make what would become a chicken nugget. At one point I had to turn the channel I was so sick to my stomach. It was an especially difficult show to watch being Vegan and caring so much about healthy eating. What was absolutely shocking was when he asked the kids if they would eat the chicken nugget now that they knew what was in it. Almost every child raised his or her hand. It was so disappointing and sad.

Later on in the show, Jamie, along with the school leaders, discovered that the children have been eating processed finger food for so long that none of them knew how to properly use a fork and a knife. It was just beyond shocking and disturbing, however, it was heart-warming to see the principal teaching his kids how to use basic utensils.

Jamie's visit to a mortuary with a radio DJ was also eye opening. The overweight casket that appeared to be the size of a queen bed baffled me. I had no idea such a thing existed although it certainly makes sense that obese people cannot be buried in a normal size casket. To find out that they are literally too fat to be cremated was yet another astonishing piece of information.

This television is shocking and disturbing and sad. It is also heart-warming and hopeful. It's a food revolution that is long overdue, and I hope it will help Americans to think about what they are eating and make better choices for themselves and their children.

How Women's Magazines Are Dumbing Women Down

I realize my title is abrupt, but I'm angry so the title seems appropriate. I'm about one half of the way through a women's magazine my mother sent me a subscription for. It's filled with recipes, multiple articles on achieving a great orgasm, how women can better manage their hectic lives of being a wife, a mother and a maid and other worthless articles like "Do you know how to REALLY relax?" Mixed in are a plethora of skins products and clothing offerings.

Why am I disgusted? Because women's magazines are pretty much run by women ... obviously career women if they're heading a magazine. So why would they offer this sort of worthless empty crap to other women? I honestly don't know. Are their articles teaching women how to run their own business or how to effectively lower their taxes? No. Are their articles providing strategy for choosing the right career or how women can invest their money? No. It's as though these career women assume that the majority of women are baby making machines so flustered by their crazy hormones that they need patronizing instruction on how to organize their desk and have great sex. And every columnist with their worthless articles has parlayed that into some worthless book. It's disturbing that so much of this crap gets published.

I wrote an editorial column in college entitled "Feminism Destroyed The Dating Game." I caught hell for it. The irony is that although I feel men are a necessary partner for life I'm about as feminist as it gets. Baby-making, organizing and sex are not my top life priorities. I've entered into a number of different business ventures and am obsessed with achieving something of value and offering the world something of value in exchange.

On a plane recently from L.A. I was engrossed in reading an article in Vanity Fair. I flipped back to scribble a few ideas about what I was reading and how a particular part of the film industry could be improved. The gentleman next to me asked if I was writing down which of the dresses I wanted. I thought to myself Buddy, I don't want a dress. I want to rule the world. I was amused at his myopic thinking that as a young woman in 2010 all I would dream about is a designer dress. His ignorant assumption was forgivable because he appeared to be in his mid-sixties and was from a vastly different generation where women had no choice but to stay at home and dream of dresses.

Women who are marketing this crap in these magazines to other women are a huge part of the problem and should be ashamed of themselves. Men are raised and expected to be leaders and business men and breadwinners and they help and teach each other every step of the way. I haven't read any men's magazines, but I wonder if they have this kind of worthless banter within them? Are women really so dense that they need an article to tell them how to organize their closet? Do they really need a great orgasm or a great investment plan? Since most women end up struggling in their latter years because their husband has either died or divorced them I think an investment plan would be much more pertinent. You can put a roof over your head from your investments. You can waste your life trying to achieve the perfect orgasm and end up out in the cold. Here's my column on great orgasms. I agree with Raquel Welch - sex is over-rated.

Suze Orman is about the only woman I can think of who has used her career to teach women anything useful. It's sad because it's 2010, and I can't really think of any other woman who has.

What's worse is that this magazine my mother sent me is really directed to more mature women so now I know that it's not just the twenty-something women's magazines that have shallow messages and empty articles ... it's every women's magazine.

I've begun recently to share more things I find that benefit my life whether it's health related or finance related. I want to do that more because I see that there is a serious and profound lack of useful information for women who I believe are far more intelligent and capable than these women's magazines purport them to be.

Lessons Learned About Healthy Eating And Weight Loss

Oh boy. I've gotten myself into a mess this time. Some time ago I wrote about gaining some weight from a little too much indulgence in Trader Joe's dark chocolate, which caused me to gain five pounds. Argh!

If I thought I was depressed from gaining weight, I should've waited for how I'd feel trying to lose it. My saga is something I need to share in hopes that it will help someone else. I consulted my dad, a former chemist and a dietitian so hopefully I'm going to be on track.

For me, being five pounds up is like sounding an alarm at the fire station. I immediately went into serious "drop weight mode." For three weeks I cut my weight watcher points between four and seven points a day. Not eating 3500 calories a week I should have lost one pound a week. I was also exercising regularly power walking and doing yoga. I was drinking only water, tea and light soy milk. I was eating only vegetables, whole grains and low fat protein. After three weeks I had not lost a pound. HOW COULD THIS BE HAPPENING???

I began to look at what I'd changed. Of course I'd stopped eating the Trader Joe's dark chocolate by the bar. That was a given, but I'd done something else in the last three months that I believe contributed to my weight gain. I stopped taking my birth control. I thought I needed to give my body a rest. Within three months of going off birth control I gained 3.5 pounds. Not cool. I've just gone back on the birth control this week. I will weight as usual on Saturday. I know it will take some time for the birth control to get back in my system but I believe that there is something in the hormones of my birth control that have helped stabilize my weight in some way. I read other threads of women gaining weight after going off birth control so I really think there is something to it.

Both my chemist father and the dietitian I met with thought that I was retaining weight after hearing what I was eating and not losing weight. The dietitian told me that a person can retain five to ten pounds of water weight. Wow.

She and my dad also told me some things I didn't really want to hear, but I'm glad I did. There is nothing worse than being willing to do the things necessary to lose weight but making the wrong decisions. I could be a case study for this scenario. Of course I always think I can start eating junk once I've been at my goal weight a while. My body always lets me know that is not the case.

The first thing the dietitian said is that she thought I wasn't drinking enough water, which could be causing the water retention. She reminded me I needed to drink half my weight in ounces of water each day. Oh yeah ... I've gotten really bad about that. All too often I get lost at the computer typing or researching away, and I will forget to drink. When I do it's not enough because I'm usually sipping on some little cup of tea here and there. I am now making a concentrated effort to drink the water. I hate to be wasteful, but I really need to buy bottles and refill them so I know how much I'm drinking.

She also told me the whole grain organic muffin I'm eating for breakfast is not a good choice even if it is Vegan and offered at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. I've fallen into a very easy trap of being marketed "organic healthy" products that are really just more marketing. My chemist father agreed. He said people aren't going to market things that don't taste good because they aren't in business to make no sales. Carbohydrates alone are not a good way to start the morning. She suggested I have a pack of oatmeal and then a handful of nuts as a mid-morning snack. My dad was positive my muffins were filled with sugar. I kept wanting to tout the protein and fiber, but my dad kept saying a muffin is what it sounds like ... cake. I thought nooooo, those fresh cranberries mixed in with the whole wheat. They can't be. Sure enough when I returned to L.A. I read the label on my beloved high fiber, good source of protein muffins and they had 26 grams of sugar! Ouch. Not exactly a good way to start the morning by freaking my body out with sugar. Even the oatmeal packs have 13 grams of sugar, which my dad thinks is too much. My dad made me an oatmeal cookie sandwich comprised of two cookies and a spoonful of crunchy peanut butter. It was four weight watcher points, which is the same as the muffin but ironically it had only 8 grams of sugar and more protein so it's a better breakfast choice than even the oatmeal and nuts.

So the first lessons learned were read the label and not just the calories, fat, protein and fiber but also the sugar and the salt! Secondly, eat a low sugar protein breakfast.

My dietitian also told me to cut out the bread. But it's whole wheat whole grain bread I pleaded. Apparently, carbohydrates break down into sugar and she said that it could pack on the pounds. I've reduced my bread intake, but I haven't eliminated it. Trying to part me from bread is like trying to part me from my one true love.

She told me to up my vegetables. I bet I eat more vegetables than the average person but apparently you can't eat enough.

The next most important thing she told me was that I was not eating enough during the day. She's right. Subconsciously I've taken Weight Watchers and used it against myself. I'm so paranoid about using all my calories up and being hungry at night that I have tendency to eat less during the day so I know I have enough points to get through the night. She told me I was killing my metabolism. I should know better. It wasn't like I was consciously doing this, but nonetheless, I was doing it. She told me I shouldn't eat after 6pm. What? I love to eat a night time snack. I told her how sometimes I try to not eat late at night and I'm doing good all evening and then I go to bed and I'm so hungry I have hunger pains and I can't go to sleep because I'm so hungry so I have to get up and eat something so I can go to sleep. She said that's proof I'm not eating enough during the day because if I ate enough during the day I wouldn't be hungry at night. I'm working on eating more during the day. I'm still eating a little at night, but I'm not eating as late. I think as I focus more on eating during the day I will be less hungry at night. It is hard to eat during the day though because just like with the water I get busy and forget.

She also told me I wasn't exercising enough. She said she eats 1600 calories a day and exercises 5-6 times a week. Well hell, no wonder she's thin. She said my 3-4 times a week exercise wasn't enough. Argh. Trying to eat right and exercise all the time is like a part-time job. She did teach me this excellent exercise for your abs. To me, I feel it all over. You get in the push up position but instead of having your hands on the ground you put your forearms on the ground and you hold that position for one minute. Let me tell you. It works because it hurts. My mom also taught me a great exercise to do that the military teaches when they are prepping someone to do push ups. You lay on your stomach and just push up and down on your arms only lifting your upper body. At first it seems easy, but it gets painful fast. We do 35 at a time. My dietitian also recommended doing Pilate's to strengthen my core abdominals. I have never done Pilate's so I look forward to trying it.

Now that I'd been lectured about everything under the sun there was only one lecture left ... a lecture about salt. My dad said he thought salt, sugar and fat were the worst... in that order. Yikes. After giving up meat and dairy and later on Vegan butter and olive oil to save calories I must admit that I've had quite a free hand with the salt shaker ... another huge reason for my water retention and probably my inability to lose this five pounds. I've begun eating vegetables with no salt. I'm cool with corn, carrots, green beans, broccoli, etc but potatoes taste so bland without any salt. My dad instructed me to keep reading labels. My healthy (or so I thought) Trader Joe's had so many foods filled with salt it was ridiculous. There is enough salt and sugar in marinara sauce to make me never want to eat it again. Who knew. Many vegetables that are frozen already have some amount of sodium although most fresh vegetables don't. There is so much sodium in even canned black beans that I shudder at the thought of eating them anymore. Our foods are filled with salt and then we sit down to eat and shake the salt shaker over it some more. I'm ashamed to admit I've even salted Jack-in-the-Box french fries with two packs of salt. Ewww! They are beyond salty enough already. And that is definitely not something I should be eating ever, but I do here and there. Interestingly, most vegetables have their own nice flavor if you can ever get off the salt addiction train. My dad talked to me about trap foods like popcorn when I told him about my lightly salted popcorn I like to eat. He asked me if I'd eat popcorn if it had no salt on it. I told him no. He told me that no one would eat popcorn if it wasn't doused in salt, butter, sugar or all three. The popcorn didn't have as much salt as a lot of other foods, but I realize it's time to find a different movie snack and stop eating trap foods.

I've learned a lot. I feel sure it will pay off. I'm eating unsalted fresh green beans as I sit here typing with a giant glass of water next to me. I'm not saying it's Jack-in-the-Box french fries and a Sprite, but I'm looking forward to fitting into my skinny jeans again real soon.

Update: I'm 1.5 pounds down this morning from the changes I've already begun to make. Yessssss!

From Los Angeles To My Hometown, Which Is Somewhere In The Middle Of No Where

I recently returned home to Los Angeles from a one week trip to the small town in North Carolina where I grew up. By small I mean around 20,000 people with the nearest Starbucks or Victoria Secret a good forty miles away.

There are many things that I love and loathe about the city and the country. I often wish that I could combine the best of each into one amazing country city. A girl can dream. So what are my observations of my home town after living in Los Angeles for so many years now?

First off, that Wal-Mart is amazing. I'm sorry, but those Waltons absolutely deserve to be billionaires. Wal-Mart might not be the snazziest looking building ever built, but it is one of the places I most look forward to visiting when I come home.

In Los Angeles, there is no Wal-Mart near by so I often end up visiting Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, CVS and Bed, Bath and Beyond to get my basic necessities met. God forbid I have to have anything hardware related because that means a trip to Osh. I marvel at the amount of time city people waste stuck in traffic driving from store to store to get everything they need. At Wal-Mart, everything you need is under one roof. I love that I can get groceries, toiletries and a flat screen tv if desired all in one place.

I also love Wal-Mart because it's CHEAP! Everything is cheaper! Wet Ones, which I love to keep in the house and the car, are $2.44 at Wal-Mart. In L.A., they're usually $3.99. It's not just cheap household products either. I usually always find some ridiculously great treasure for some shockingly low price. This time it was a pair of Danskin tennis shoes that my boyfriend thought were Pumas. They were $3.00!!! They are purple with pink and grey and hot to trot. Ironically, the Dr. Scholl's shoe pads I bought for extra support were twice the price of the shoes, but whatever, for less than $10 I got a snazzy looking pair of comfortable tennis shoes. Like I said, the Waltons deserve to be billionaires for bringing that kind of value.

I also love Wal-Mart because the store is so big that I've pretty much gotten a workout by the time I walk from one end to the other and back.

Wal-Mart does have its drawbacks, but it is no different than most grocery stores across America. What am I talking about? The fact that there was one aisle of vegetables and literally nineteen aisles of meat, cheese and processed foods. There was literally a larger variety of Debbie Cakes than there were vegetables! They didn't even have any fresh corn! I live in the country where corn grows off the stalk less than 10 miles away! This is unacceptable. My mom informed me that if I wanted a large selection of vegetables I'd need to go to Farmer's Market, which is open between 7am and 1pm on Wednesday and Saturday. Am I the only one that sees something wrong with this picture? You can only get fresh, plentiful vegetables twice a week across town but you can get food that will make you fat and kill you dead twenty-fours hours a day seven days a week?

Next up, was a visit to K-Mart because really is there anything to do in the south besides go to large retail stores. K-Mart looked like a graveyard. How stores like K-Mart and Roses are still in business with Wal-Mart is an anomaly. My mom assured me that K-Mart was the best place to get prescriptions. After I'd seen the line at Wal-Mart I figured she was right. There was no wait at K-Mart. My mom was filling a prescription. The fill amount was ninety pills. Again, this is what is wrong with America. Why does anyone need ninety pills of anything? Well, K-Mart only had fifty-five. Instead of telling us they couldn't fill the prescription or pro-rating the fifty-five pills they gave them to us for free!!! Not exactly good business nor would this ever happen in L.A., but that is part of what's nice about the south.

On another day, I was feeling parched and happened in the corner store next to my old high school. There was a man buying an oversized beer at 11 am. I said a prayer for him as I stood behind him in line with my two giant bottles of water. Argh, God bless the alcoholics of the world. Life if just not right if you're drinking at 11am. Being in the corner store that day also made me realize that there seemed to be three occupations in my small town ... doctor, lawyer and low wage retail. Sadly, I hadn't seen any new businesses setting up shop in my town which was once a lumber town and then a textile town until all that work went to China. The only new businesses I noticed were more law offices and more medical offices. Based on the nineteen aisles of junk food at Wal-Mart I could easily see why there were such a plethora of medical buildings. And ironically, Duke Medicine had taken over the old Winn-Dixie grocery store with a fancy refurbishment to the exterior. It's like "First we fed you our poison food, now we're going to poison you with our drugs, but first we'll get rich doing it."

I also noticed that southerners talked loud on their cell phones. Everywhere they went they spoke on their cell phones so loud that you could hear every word of their conversation crystal clear. It was as if they wanted you to hear every word because they might just be about to share a Fried Green Tomatoes moment. Oddly, I liked to listen. Listening to a Southerner talk loudly about their personal life on their Blackberry in that classic Southern draw is beyond entertaining. There should be more Southerners on television. Southerners are very interesting people. People have always told me I'm too loud. Oh well, I got it honest.

It was nice to get away for a week and spend time with my parents. It was nice to get away from my life. Sometimes you need to get away from your life to have perspective on your life. But it was also nice to return to bustling L.A. where LAX was like a madhouse the night I arrived. I am enjoying my purple shoes and the corn on the cob I get each week from Trader Joe's.

P.S. It's not cool that I couldn't find an image for "Southern Pride" that didn't have the rebel flag on it. The South really needs to re-market itself. Oh well, I guess "Git-R-Done" will have to do.

Humor For The Day

A smile - is a sign of joy.
A hug - is a sign of love.
A laugh - is a sign of happiness.

And a friend like me??
Shoot...that's just a sign of good taste!!

How To Get Out Of Debt

A while back I wrote two articles for Investopedia.com. I should've written more, but I don't love dealing with editors so as graciously as possible I declined further requests. I've never been one for the formal writing style that is required by major journalistic institutions.

What I have loved are the occasional emails I receive from readers. I recently received this question and thought I'd share my response.

I would like to learn how to invest when you have so little and how to get out of debt.

Since getting out of debt and investing can be complex topics I thought I'd briefly tackle part one ... getting out of debt. Here is my response...

"I would say the most important thing is to focus on getting out of debt first. If your debt is of the student loan variety, most student loans can be temporarily halted or lowered if your income has been cut or you've lost your job, however, the interest will continue to accrue. From what I know, student loan debt is the one type of debt that a person will have to pay even if they go bankrupt so student loan debt always has to be paid off at some point.

If credit card debt is your issue, I would do everything I could to do get that debt paid off. I have heard of people being out of work and using credit cards to buy groceries and pay utilities just to keep going. In those dire situations you have to do what you have to do, but I would get food stamps or go to a church food pantry before I would buy food at 12 or 18% interest on a credit card.

I think most people use credit cards to buy things they really don't need. I don't have an I-phone or the internet on my phone. I don't drive a brand new car. I don't go out to eat but once in a blue moon, and when I do it's somewhere cheap. I don't go to the movies hardly ever because it's so expensive. I rarely spend a dime on clothes, and when I do I shop at places like Marshall's. If I had to do without cable or whatever else, I would before I'd use a credit card. I'm cheap. I grew up with a post-depression father who taught me that there was nothing I needed or wanted badly enough not to be able to pay for it. American society plays on people's insecurities that they need all this stuff to be good enough. When I was younger I was obsessed with everything advertised, but the goal is to avoid that and have zero debt. The only kind of debt I think is acceptable is for a home, a business or an education. Everyone is different. This is just my opinion and what I live by.

The next step, once debt is paid off is to begin building an 8 month emergency fund. Suze Orman recommends this, and I agree. You need to have 8 months of income built up in case you lose your job or your rent goes up and your income didn't or your car breaks down. These are exactly the type of unwanted surprises that we all get hit with. I have a $449 doctor bill to pay right now. Guess where the money is coming from ... my emergency fund. And then you build it back up when you deplete it. This is money you can't invest because you really can't risk losing it. The banks are paying nothing on money right now, but you need that money available and not tied up in a CD. I would suggest putting this emergency fund in a money market with a credit union. That's where I have most of my emergency fund. It's better to earn 2% than nothing although it annoys me that we have to pay tax to the government on our interest earned.

Lastly, it's time to invest if you can scrape anything else up. You can see why most people struggle to invest. It's a life of doing without and saving and trying to avoid those unwanted surprises."

Providing Writing And Artistic Credit On The Internet

Wow. I just received two of the rudest emails from a photographer. What horrible deed did I do? I promoted her work on my blog, which I found publically on Stumble Upon. Needless to say, I removed her work immediately. I would NEVER want to promote someone's work who doesn't want to be promoted, but if a person posts their work on the Internet, doesn't put their name on their work and doesn't put a lock on their image well, what do they expect to happen?

I appreciate when people link back to me or credit me when they re-post one of my posts, but I realize it doesn't always happen. I would NEVER think of sending someone some rude, awful email. The things I share on here are things that I've loved ... things I've wanted to share with others. I am thrilled when someone shares my blog posts whether I'm credited or not, which brings up the topic of responsibility on the Internet.

If I wanted to have every single post of mine credited, then it is MY job to put GlamorousTrash.com at the bottom of every post. I don't. Maybe I should, but what it most certainly IS NOT is the job of everyone else on the Internet to credit me. When anyone posts a blog post, a photo or a video on the Internet they must realize that it is going to be posted and re-posted on a plethora of different websites. By the time someone finds another person's work, there may be no one credited as was the case here.

Just as it is MY responsibility to put my name on every post if I want to ensure credit, it is the job of every photographer to put their name on their photographs if they want to be credited. Famous painters have been signing their work for centuries. Why do photographers and modern artists today think it is everyone else's job to credit them? All they have to do is sign their name to their work. It's ridiculous for artists or writers to go trolling around the Internet hurling nasty emails at the very people who loved their work enough to share it because that writer or artist did not do his or her job and put their name on their work.

I sincerely hope that more photographers and artists will learn that you can put a lock on a photograph so that no one can save the photo and then re-post it if you've created art that you do not want to be shared. But obviously if a person is putting their work on the Internet they want to be noticed. The simple solution is to put your name on your work if you want to be credited. It's not complicated and other much more famous artists have been doing it for centuries.

Food Art: How Cute Is This?

LOVE THIS!!!!!

Undercover Boss

If you haven't seen Undercover Boss yet, you must. It's a reality TV show where the CEO of a company goes undercover in his own company and works all the grunt jobs alongside his employees as a newbie trying out new jobs for a documentary.

A little birdie told me that he thinks the companies on Undercover Boss are not only on the show to boost their sales but are even paying to participate. Who knows. Anything is possible. Like any "reality" show it's very constructed. The casting producers must have scoured through every employee to find the hardest working ones with the saddest possible stories to put on the air. It is truly disturbing at how hard so many people have to work for so little money. Usually, the CEO does something special for the few select employees he meets along the way. It's a nice gesture, but I never feel like they do enough. And of course, what about everyone else?

Nonetheless, I like the show. It's entertaining. It doesn't make me think any better of the CEO's and it's certainly not going to make me shop more at 7-Eleven and certainly not Hooters, but it is fun to see a CEO roll up his sleeves each week and seriously struggle on some manufacturing line while his employees just shake their head at what an incompetent newbie he is.

Really, can TV get any better?! It's the highlight of my Sunday.

Removing Information You Don't Want On The Internet

Google, Yahoo and Bing are all great search engines, however, it is beyond annoying to have old or unwanted information about yourself coming up in search results. When it's personal information being posted on the web without one's consent, it's downright unsafe.

Just tonight I found a link to my blog with my full name on it. Having multiple blogs, one of which is a private blog listing my full name, caused the problem. This glitch is very annoying. It seems it is easier than ever to have information posted on the Internet before you even realize what you've done ... or what someone else or some other company has done. I have since changed that information back, but it's still showing up in Google search results. Contacting the webmaster to remove the unwanted information is always the first step. In this case, I am the webmaster so I did my part. Google, however, has not done their part ... yet.

Changing information on a website isn't good enough to change it immediately in the search results of the major search engines. I don't know whether Bing or Yahoo have a webpage removal request tool. Google does. Has anyone in the history of mankind ever gotten a modified page deleted in Google search results? I have been DENIED every single time except on two occasions, which proves Google and other major search engines have no respect for privacy. Nonetheless, this is step two in getting your information removed from the search results once it's been removed by a webmaster.

Tonight I was reading in a forum where some other poor soul had some out of date Facebook page from college coming up in Google search results. The page had long ago been modified, but it was still coming up in Google search results and the person didn't want to be associated with God only knows what kind of college craziness.

I have been successful twice in getting information removed... once when a webmaster refused. A long time ago my personal information (full name, email address and cell phone number) were posted on a web page without my consent. Not cool. To my shock the webmaster was a total jerk and refused to remove my personal information. I felt so powerless and angry about the situation. Without the webmaster taking action, the major search engines wouldn't either. But I got smart. I looked up on Whois.net who owned the website, which I already knew, and more importantly who the hosting company was. I called the hosting company and complained. They called the webmaster and forced him to remove my personal information. Oh, it was so nice to show that jerk webmaster who was boss.

Most webmasters however are cool. I would never want to post anything on my blog that someone didn't want shared. Here lies the problem with Google, Yahoo and Bing ... often they keep posted old search results for web pages that have been modified. Everytime I've had a webmaster modify a page and then requested removal from Google they have denied it except twice. They never give any specific explanation for the denial and their help pages are well ... so unhelpful. They keep this removal request page well hidden too. You'll find it if you Google "Webpage removal request tool." If you Google anything else, you'll never find it.

The key to getting the webpage removal request tool to work to your advantage is not to submit the page you find in the search results for removal, which is anyone's natural tendency to do. You will need to go to the website and find where your information is listed and submit that page. Sometimes, the page is the same as the search results, but sometimes it is slightly different. When Google asks for a "search term" you will put in the term you searched that brought the unwanted web page in the search results.

So what to do about Google, Yahoo and Bing when they don't remove information that a webmaster has modified and you've tried their webpage removal request tool? Step three is to make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I've done this once or twice after getting no where with the anti-privacy giants. They always respond with some form letter response referring to their terms of service but the webpages in question usually end up being magically removed during the processing of my complaint.

Who would've ever thunk that it would take this much effort to keep your information private. It is a never ending task. Individuals should have a right to keep their cell phone number, full name, home address and email address private if they so choose. I wonder how the creators of Google would like it if their home address or cell phone number were listed on the web.

There really should be an act created by Congress to protect individuals privacy on the web. There is no respect for privacy on the part of these companies. Until there is such a law, I hope my solutions help.

The Job Market ... So Full Of Opportunity!

Say What?

- I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

- I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather.. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.

- If God is watching us, the least we can do is be entertaining.

- A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don’t need it.

- Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

How Can I Make My Computer Run Faster?

Tonight I went over to my best girl friend's place. She was having a time with her laptop, and although I am by no means a techie I have discovered several things that keep a computer running smoothly and the Internet humming. It was great to be able to help her with my simple solutions. If your technological skills rival those us girls, read on!

1. Use anti-virus software ... and use the free stuff. Why waste money. A long time ago my old computer got a virus and it was destroyed. For several years I was so freaked out that I spent $40 a year for Norton Anti-Virus. When I finally stopped paying for Norton, they had increased the price to $80, which is ridiculous. I use AVG Anti-Virus software and thus far, it's worked perfectly well for free.

2. Delete Temporary Internet Files. Interestingly, on most computers if you delete the temporary internet files from the control panel by going Start, Control Panel, Internet Options and Delete Temporary Internet Files it will only delete the files on Internet Explorer. I assume this is because it's what every PC seems to be set up with.

Not too long ago I was having constant problems with Internet Explorer even though I was doing everything I knew to keep my computer running smoothly and my computer is less than a year old. So, I switched to Safari, which I love. It works so much better. Also, if you use either Firefox or Safari you can delete search history within those browsers.

3. Eusing Free Registry Cleaner - I love this free software. Every so often I will do a scan of my computer with Eusing and it will detect corrupt files that need to be deleted.

4. Auslogics Disc Defrag - Since I'm not a techie I can't explain defrag in technical terms. I can explain it in Girl terms. Basically, files get mixed up, which can cause the computer to run slower so the defrag re-organizes things so it will run better.

Using all four of these solutions I kept my last computer running for years. And I keep my new computer buzzing along too!

Compare The Cheapest Airfares With Sidestep.com

I thought everyone knew about this website. Why do I always assume that everyone knows about my favorite websites? There was a time when I didn't know about this website either.

It's really great because it allows you to view all major airfare websites to find the cheapest flight. It also lets you know what the average price of flights are throughout the month. I love it. It makes shopping for a flight so easy. I also like that it shows the actual price you will be paying. Sidestep.com showed a flight I booked at $280. When I was re-directed to the airline's website to purchase the ticket my total came to $283.

Excellent! It's free, easy and accurate. What more can you ask for?

First class for $283. Heh. Heh. Heh ... a girl can dream.

Your Daily Dose Of Beauty

Humor For The Day

How Demand Studios Is Ruining The Internet

Ever typed something into Google that you needed to know? I have and usually I want to read something written by an individual with some expertise on that subject matter.

Ever read an E-How article? Been there. Done that. I don't proclaim to have read every article, but the few that I've had the unfortunate opportunity to read are about as generic as you can get and thus, a complete waste of time. You'll also notice that most of the authors have only their name listed and not one single reputable publication they've written for.

I recently found out why. Demand Studios owns multiple websites including Livestrong.com and E-How.com, and they are looking for writers on Craigslist. Literally anyone can sign up to be a writer and earn anywhere from $5 to $15 for writing one on one of their many topics.

I have no problem with this procedure as long as the person writing the article has some expertise on what they are writing about. Here lies the problem as apparently Demand Studios isn't interested in producing any useful content just tricking people into clicking on their web pages so they can get a lot of page views.

Hence, I avoid E-How like the plague. And I find myself so annoyed when I see their pages come up in the search results.

And while I'm on my Gripe of the Day I also detest bloggers who set up blogs just to get page views as well. Having a blog or a website should exist because you have something worthwhile to share whether it's expertise, something beautiful, funny, informational or cute not something that just takes up space on the Internet.

Humor For The Day

Iron Man 2 Trailer

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Let's hope it rocks as much as the first one did.

How Much Do We Spend On Food?

What an amazing video. I am loving Trader Joe's because they sell so many wonderful fruits and vegetables, and they are so much more affordable than Whole Foods. I am finally to the point where I am eating only fruit, vegetables, low fat protein and whole grains. And some low fat popcorn. :)

I felt really good today when I checked out at the grocery store because of the twenty items I got today, eleven were fruits and vegetables. I especially love Trader Joe's because they sell vegetables that are washed, chopped and prepared! It makes healthy eating so easy. I literally have to open the bag or container of fresh vegetables and drop them in a pot of hot water to cook. It can't get any easier or faster.

CNN Hero: Free Sunday Surgeon

How amazing is this?! It's so great to see people out in the world doing kind and generous things for those in need. Just awesome!

Dave Chapelle - The Secret

The World Is So Beautiful

Wisdom For The Day

Who Do You Think You Are?

I love this show! Each week a celebrity traces their ancestry. The first episode premiered with Sarah Jessica Parker who learned that she had an ancestor who died in the California Gold Rush and another ancestor who was accused of being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. Her ancestor had incredible luck because soon after she was accused the people of Massachusetts realized what a terrible wrong they'd committed and stopped the witch hunt. Her ancestor's case never went to trial and she lived to the ripe old age of 82. How awesome!

I would LOVE to do this show. How exciting and fun to learn about your past. I don't know a lot about my family except that my dad's family is from Ireland and my mom's family is from England. My mom has traced her family all the way back to the American Revolution, but I don't know any specifics. I definitely wish I knew more.

McDonald's Partners With Weight Watchers

Well this is a serious joke. I should know because I do Weight Watchers. It's this great little program where you spend every day of your life writing down every morsel and crumb of food you eat. Then you weigh yourself once a week, which usually includes starving the night before to maintain your goal weight. Weight Watchers loves to tout how it's not a diet! Yeah right. It's a diet for the rest of your life.

I'm in the lowest weight category on the Weight Watchers scale, which is amusing to me. Weight Watchers weight standards were clearly developed by healthy minded people and not Hollywood anorexics. In my weight category, the least I'm supposed to eat is twenty points a day and the most I'm supposed to eat to maintain my weight is twenty-five points a day. (Without frequent exercise, there is no way on Earth I can maintain my weight eating twenty-five points a day.)

I like to eat doughnuts in my fantasies. A doughut is six points. Has anyone ever eaten just one? I. Don't. Think. So. If you eat three doughnuts that's eighteen points, which leaves you anywhere from two to seven points to eat the rest of the day. Hence, the whole starving thing. Of course there are free vegetables that are zero points like asparagus, broccoli, green beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and squash, which are all personal favorites of mine.

But really, who is going to eat three doughnuts and then load up on squash and tomatoes the rest of the day. Not exactly a balanced and healthy eating plan.

Here's a perfect example of how being on Weight Watchers will never allow you to be able to eat anything at McDonald's unless you plan on starving the rest of the day.

I don't eat at McDonald's because the last I read they fry their french fries in some sort of meat batter, which would defy my holier-than-thou Vegan lifestyle. So I head over to Jack-in-the-Box where they fry them in good 'ol fashioned vegetable oil.

A large fry and a small Sprite are nine and three points respectively. I do eat this meal sometimes, but it's always a bit of a struggle as I have to eat really healthy the rest of the day to not go over my points. A junk food connoisseur at this point should be squawking about where the massive cholesterol-raising heart attack-inducing hamburger is to go with those mountain of fries and small Sprite. Um, no where to be found is the answer. If you ate a hamburger on top of the fries and the drink you would most certainly use every single point allotted for the entire day. So yeah, Weight Watchers has totally sold out because no one wants to eat healthy. They just want to eat healthy at McDonald's because really, as long as we're all staring at a picture of a salad while ordering a Big Mac, our pants shouldn't be splitting anytime soon.

The bottom line is this - if you don't want to be a fat girl don't eat at McDonald's. The best way to maintain weight is by eating vegetables, whole grains and low fat protein. BORING! It's healthy, but your taste buds aren't going to be doing back flips. And pretty much those three food columns along with fruit are your only hope of staying within your points on Weight Watchers. I should know. I've tested Weight Watchers with french fries, soft drinks, chocolate chip cookies, potato chips and chocolate. My waistline has lost the battle every single time.

BMW Electric I-Series

After a successful lease program with BMW's Mini-E Program, they are are set to release several hundred completely electric I-Series models around the country, which will be available for lease. The I-Series can travel up to one hundred miles per charge and can reach a speed of up to 90 mph.

Sweet!

Truth In Advertising