News: "Obama's half-brother arrested on charge of marijuana possession"

Obama's half-brother arrested on charge of marijuana possession

Great Story: "EBay Winners Tell Struggling Atlanta Family: Take the $20G, Keep Your Stuff"

This is a great story. It is quite refreshing to know that there are still good & charitable people in our world today.

EBay Winners Tell Struggling Atlanta Family: Take the $20G, Keep Your Stuff

Weigh In #42

Weekly loss: -1.75 lbs
Total loss: -63.25 lbs

A former professor of mine was killed

Joe Bittengle was the head of the Radiologic Technology department at UAMS. He a couple of my Bachelor's degree classes while I was in school. Mr. Bittengle was killed 6 days before Christmas right in front of his mother.

I got a weird email about a memorial service for him at the university but thought it was just a service honoring him for his years there, so I kind of blew it off. I'm just not near enough to attend something like that. However, I got another email today from the people putting it on & it was even weirder, talking about his sons coming to speak. So I decided to google his name & got this article.

I gasped as I read that he was shot in the stomach by an armed robber at an apartment complex in Little Rock & later died from the injuries. The man had robbed & injured another man before demanding Mr. Bittengle's 71 year old mother's purse. She gave it to the man & then he shot her son.

I'm very shocked by this. I wasn't exactly close to Mr. Bittengle but it is still quite shocking when something like this happens to someone you know. You know thing like this happen every day but not to people you know. It happens in big cities & to drug dealers & thugs & general low-life's but not to upstanding, university professors. That only happens on Law & Order.

I know there are parts of Little Rock that are pretty rough but you still think of it as a pretty safe city, until something like this, that is. I will certainly think of it the next time I visit that town & will probably be more aware of what is going on around me. I love Little Rock & don't want to be afraid of it but I probably should be a little more cautious, not just there but probably every where I go. I don't need to be paranoid or anything, just more aware of my surroundings.

Luckily, a man has been arrested for the crime along with several other charges.

Here are a couple of other article covering the story:

Shadyside Native Killed in Ark. Robbery

UAMS Professor Dies After Robbery Attempt

Press Release regarding the arrest of a suspect

Burger King vs. Subway...correction it is Dominoes vs. Subway

I find this quite hilarious. Apparently, Burger King (correction, Dominoes, thanks Jordan) made a claim that their sandwiches beat Subway's 2-1 in a national taste test. This did not sit well with Subway so they sent a letter to Burger King (Dominoes) asking them to remove the commercials.

Here was Burger King's (Dominoes') response:




To read the article I got this from click here.

****Update*****

Jordan, pointed out the fact that it was Dominoes not Burger King that made the claim. Sorry for the mistake. Oops. :)

Great Link: Barack Obama inauguration: this Emperor has no clothes, it will all end in tears

I found this article quite interesting. Just in case you are an Obama fan, I must warn you that it is very anti-Obama, so you may not like it. :)

Barack Obama inauguration: this Emperor has no clothes, it will all end in tears

Movie Preview: Monsters vs. Aliens

Great Video: Uncle Jay -- 1/26

Movie Review: Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the third installment in the Underworld trilogy. After Kate Beckinsale decided she did not want to make anymore werewolf vs. vampire movies, it was decided that the Underworld movies would continue with prequel.

Rise of the Lycans revisits the story of the beginning of the war between the lycans & the vampires. It is a forbidden love story that leads to the uprising of a group of beings that cast off their chains of slavery & fight for their freedom.

I really enjoyed this film & feel it redeemed the second installment, Evolution, which I felt was a huge waste of money & time. The fight scenes in this movie are quite graphic & there is a sex scene that if you are sensitive scenes you may want to skip this film, but other than that, I thought it was quite enjoyable. I will give it an A-. I would have given it an A but the fight scenes were a bit difficult to see what was happening due to the darkness & the quickness of the filming & the sex sceen & graphic nature of the fight scene were a bit unnecessary if you ask me.

If you liked Underworld, then, I believe, you will love this one too. :)

Movie Review: Inkheart

Inkheart is based on a children's novel, originally entitled Tintenherz & the first book in the Inkworld trilogy, that I have now added to my must read list. This movie was fabulous. Not only is it completely safe for the entire family, but it leaves you earnestly hoping that the fairytale dimensions we read about are really true. I instantly wanted to run home & write a wonderfully imaginative novel about fairies, water nymphs, witches, dragons, fair madiens, & handsom heroes.

Although this movie is made mainly for children, adults will love it too. And, what woman doesn't enjoy watching Paul Bettany twirl fire without a shirt on. Hehe.

This movie will win no awards but I give it an A+ & insist that you go see it right away. :)

Weigh In #41 & Some Bad News

4000 Questions: Question #46: Can you describe your first day at school?

So it has been about 2 1/2 months since I've done one of these. I'm going to try to do better. My goal is to do one question a day but that is sometimes impossible so I'll just do the best I can, or, er, I'll try to do better. Hehe.

Well, my first day of kindergarten was in 1984. Wow! That was a long time ago. So, I don't remember the day.

All I do know was that I did not want to go. I did not want to go to school. I wanted to stay at home with mama & Kim. I didn't want to miss out on what they were doing. I didn't care about colors or shapes or letters or any of that nonsense. I knew all of that already anyway. I wanted to water color & play with playdough & watch cartoons & color. I was made to live a life or luxury not socialize with a bunch of nose pickers & glue eaters. :)

Great Video: Uncle Jay -- 1/19

Something Great Just Happened

That's right. Something wonderful & unexpected just happened to me & didn't cost me a thing. (Always a bonus.) I was at work & was finishing an exam on a lady a bit heftier than me. I told her to do something that she was having a difficult time doing until I realized I hadn't pulled her out of the scanner yet. Whoops. I apologized & she laughed & said that it was a bit difficult for someone big like her. I told her no & that I think anyone would have problems doing that. She said, "No, you would have no problem doing that. You're tiny."

*Mouth gaping open*

I said thank you & "That really means a lot to me. I've recently lost right around 60 lbs so that means more than you think to me."

She was shocked. She then asked me if I had weight loss surgery. I told her that I had started out looking into it but decided to give myself 2 years to get it off before I started seriously pursuing it. She then asked me how long it had been & I told her just over 9 months. She then told me about a friend of hers that had lap band last spring & hadn't quite lost that much weight yet.

I just thought I would share a bit of sunshine from my day. :)

New Bike!!!

Can they really be serious?!

Should jailed kids get to go to Barack's bash?

Things That Annoy Me: Food "Sounds"

First off, this is a series of entries I have been wanting to do for a while. I was going to call it "Things That Tick Me Off," which they are usually but "Annoy" is probably more accurate.

I know what my family is thinking, "Oh, jeez, this is a never ending topic for Kristy." That is because it has kind of become a joke in our family about what gets on my nerves. It seems like just about anything. Hehe. They will also tell you that food "sounds" are pretty much my number one.

So, what do I mean by "food sounds?" Do I mean that I don't like to hear that sizzle of frying food that causes you to start salivating? Does food really make a sound? Does your food dance & sing like on Disney's Beauty & The Beast? (I know it wasn't really the food doing the musical number, it was the dishes.)

What I mean is chewing. I hate that sound. First off, you have those especially noisy foods like chips, trail mix, nuts, popcorn, & other crunchy food that, if I ever gain control of the world, my first act in office will be to make all of them illegal to be eaten within hearing distance of my ears. I have a friend who eats nuts around me all the time. Not only that, but I believe she waits until I'm around her to eat them. Aaarrrhhhhh!!! I think I'm beginning to crack up a bit.

Another is chewing with mouth open, like a cow chewing cud. First of all, I don't want to see your mushed up food; second, it is messy; but most of all, I do not want to hear your saliva splashing about. It just makes me a little nauseous. Blech! My annoyance with this was supported in a blog at Your Healthy Lifestyle Blog at SparkPeople entitled "How Good Manners Can Help You Slim Down." It stated, "When you chew with your mouth open, you swallow air, which can lead to flatulence and indigestion. Spare your dining companions the "see-food" and save yourself the tummy troubles later."

I was also excited to read in that same blog entry support for another annoyance I have, talking with your mouth full. "Conversation is important, but wait until you have swallowed your food to start talking. It's better to create silence while you chew and swallow than to give a garbled answer because you're talking around a mouthful of chicken. Eating while carrying on a conversation makes it easier to wind up overindulging." I'd like to add that it is disgusting & I don't appreciate getting sprayed by your PCF (pre-chewed food...a phrase a Sunday school teacher use to use a lot...lol...ah, memories...hehe).

Ok, ok, I know what you are thinking..."This girl is over the top, a little too picky." Well, yeah, I guess I am. Does that annoy you? Write a blog about it then. :)

So, I continue.

Soups. Enough said.

You could also add squishy foods like oranges in with soups if you are talking sploshy sounds. Ick!

Now, I move on to drinks. Hot drinks. Is it really necessary to blow into your cup? Yeah, I know, you want to cool it off, but you're looking into at very least, 8 oz of scalding liquid, do you really think that a couple of puffs are going to make it chill any faster than just waiting 5 min or so? Apparently most people think so because after 2 short blows (because, apparently that is the gold standard of cooling off hot liquids) they dive right in for a solid drink. And what comes next? That's right, that grimace that make small children run for their mother & babies cry. Now, not only do you have any skin left on your lip or in your throat you look like you just had a seizure. The next time you are in a coffee shop, watch the people, it is quite entertaining. Maybe this really didn't belong in the "annoying" section but it does become annoying when that person then says, "Ow, that's hot!" then immediately proceeds to take another sip. *eyes rolling*

Also, in the drinks section I would like to include water bottles. Not the screw cap ones but the ones you are supposed to squeeze to get the liquid out of. For some reason, way too many people find it necessary to suck on these bottles so that their lip is stuck to the nozzle & the plastic collapses in on itself. This leads to two extremely annoying sounds. The plastic loudly popping & scaring the begeeses out of me &, two, the release of pressure from their lip as they pry the skin away from the bottle. Ugh!

Hehe...you enjoying this yet?

Finally, after all this food & drink come the dreaded body sounds, that's right, burping. I do understand that this happens from time to time on complete accident & that is fine. Where it becomes a problem for me is when it is obvious that the person is trying to burp or obviously not trying to suppress it. The most inexcusable, however, when the person does not excuse themselves after it happens, or worse, seems to take pride in it, like, "*BURP* Whoo...yeah." Gross & rude.

Well, I guess that is all I'll say about food sounds today. I know you can't wait for my next instalment of Things That Annoy Me & I'm sure you are still questioning how it is possible that I am still single. :)

The Biggest Loser

What is wrong with me? I caught the last few minutes of The Biggest Loser tonight. I haven't watched this show in years & I certainly haven't watched it this season. So, why then am I crying over the elimination of this Jerry guy? I don't even know these people. I think I may start TiVoing this season now. :)

Wow! What a transformation in Jerry. He looks great now & so does his wife.

Great Link: Mind Tricks or How To Hallucinate Without Drugs

Hack your brain

How to hallucinate with ping-pong balls and a radio

Our Amazing Planet: Very Cool Clouds Over Greenland

I would post a couple of their pics here & some clips of the article but I can't seem to get my Clipmarks software (or whatever it is) to work. So, just go to the link & if nothing else check out the amazingly cool pics.

The picture perfect storm: Photographs capture the terrifying beauty of clouds gathering over Greenland

Great Video: Uncle Jay -- 1/12

Uncle Jay website

News: "Quakes shake loose fears about Yellowstone volcano"

Some of you may know this, there have been a couple of documentaries on The National Geographic Channel & possible some others about it. Anyway, Yellowstone National Park is located atop of a mega volcano, or sometimes referred to as a supervolcano, called Yellowstone Caldera. In fact, Yellowstone would not be what it is with out the volcano. There would be no geysers or other geothermal features, which is the number one attraction to the park. With out the volcano, it would just be another nice place to hike & see wildlife, which is enough for me, but the unusual activity is wonderful too. If you've never been, you should definitely plan a trip. Yellowstone & Arches run a close race at being my all time favorite National Parks.

So, the reason I'm talking about this is there have been an increase in the geological activity over the last few weeks. It has some concerned being that the volcano is long over due for an eruption but at the same time does not worry the scientists too awfuly much because they believe the chance of an eruption any time in the next 100 years to be highly unlikely. Still, I find it quite interesting. Here are some quotes from an article The Weather Channel posted on their website yesterday (1/9/09), entitled "Quakes shake loose fears about Yellowstone volcano":

"Hundreds of small earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park in recent weeks have been an unsettling reminder for some people that underneath the park's famous geysers and majestic scenery lurks one of the world's biggest volcanoes."

"In the ancient past, the volcano has erupted 1,000 times more powerfully than the 1980 blast at Mount St. Helens, hurling ash as far away as Louisiana. No eruption that big has occurred while humans have walked the earth, however, and geologists say even a minor lava flow is extremely unlikely any time soon."

"'To those of us who have been following these events, we know that something is brewing, especially considering that Yellowstone is over 40,000 years overdue for a major eruption,' warned a posting on the online disaster forum Armageddononline.org."

"Earthquakes are hardly unusual in Yellowstone. Hundreds occur in the park every year. Earthquake "swarms" like the recent activity also aren't uncommon, although the 900 or so quakes that began Dec. 26 and significantly tapered off about a week later appear to have been the most energetic swarm in more than 20 years."

"The most powerful temblor was magnitude 3.9, just short of being able to cause moderate damage. The vast majority of quakes were too weak to be felt by people."

"Heasler said the odds of a cataclysmic eruption at Yellowstone any time soon are astonishingly remote -- about the same as a large meteorite hitting the Earth. The last such eruption occurred 640,000 years ago. The last eruption of any kind at Yellowstone was a much smaller lava flow about 70,000 years ago."

"Much more likely, he said, would be a hydrothermal explosion in which underground water encounters a hot spot and blasts through the surface. Small hydrothermal explosions producing craters a few feet wide occur in Yellowstone perhaps once or twice a year. Large hydrothermal explosions leaving craters the size of a football field occur every 200 years or so, according to a 2007 paper co-authored by Heasler, Lowenstern and others."

Anyway, I thought that was pretty interesting so I thought I would share it with all my faithful readers. Thanks for stopping by. :)

Movie Preview: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

So excited!!!

Weigh In #38 & 39, plus 90 Day Challenge & my hopes & goals for 2009

This is a 4 parter. Sorry for the length but I had a lot to say. :)



Weekly loss (2 weeks worth): +2 lbs
Total loss: -57.75 lbs



My hopes & goals for 2009
1.) Get better about posting my videos.
2.) Read my Bible everyday.
3.) Clean for 10-15 min everyday.
4.) Loose 40 lbs
5.) Run in a 5K in the spring.
6.) Participate in a sprint triathlon in the fall.
7.) Take my registry exam this spring.
8.) Pursue a career related goal.
9.) Read & consider the daily positive quote of the day. (http://www.attitudemedia.com)
10.) Get back into my blogging.



90 Days Challenge:
1.) Read my Bible every day.
2.) Exercise every day, even if it is just 10 min or so.
3.) Clean for 10-15 min every day.



Finally, the end.

Recommendations:

julinside (Julia): http://www.youtube.com/user/julinside

narcissisticfatchick: http://www.youtube.com/user/narcissisticfatchick


Other people mentioned:

Action Words (Danny): http://www.youtube.com/user/ActionWords
Dannys 90 Days Challenge video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-FlqBTnPls

theDietBlogger (Trey): http://www.youtube.com/user/theDietBlogger
Treys video about The Accountability Book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djbB4x5VYGo

planetsparky: http://www.youtube.com/user/planetsparky
Sparkys attempt to be more positive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHzCBKYMjG0

Great Video: Uncle Jay -- 1/5