Category: Lifestyle

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I don’t understand all the Zoom hate.

During this Corona inspired lockdown Saturday is turning into my dedicated Zoom day. In the afternoon I virtually connect with some of my Krav Maga friends for a weekly brunch get together. This has been going on for a couple of weeks now. However today my cousins decided to do something similar for the family. We had a virtual Birthday party for our Cousin Brooke!

Since we are spread out all across different states it was fantastic to connect up even if it is only through Zoom. And while it is not the same as physically meeting up, the technology is truly the next best thing to being there. However next time we will make sure that we connect with the Zoom premium version so that we can talk longer than 40 minutes. And yeah, we can be a little cheap.

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Saturday Zoom Brunch

Even people who know me would be surprised to find out that I have a serious love hate relationship with technology. The constant need to stay up to date created by new equipment apps and languages can be overwhelming and tiring. How it is the same constant process of development, and the ways in which these new tools impact our lives, that I also love.

It blows my mind how easy it is for 10 friends in different parts of the city, country, and globe to get together on a Saturday afternoon.

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Podcast Studio Setup

A little bit of lighting makes all the difference.

You can get decent picture and video quality from a standard webcam. You just have to spend some time lighting it correctly and playing with the settings. Here I am using the Logitech C930e and running it through OBS. At 1080p it is comparable to my DSLR in my small space. If it wasn’t so difficult right now to find decent webcams, I would pick up one or two more for a multi-camera setup. However because of the Corona infused lockdown webcams are almost as valuable as toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Cameras that cost 50 bucks a few months back can now running as high as 300 dollars.

Continue reading “Podcast Studio Setup”
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Corona has me more Bane than Batman!

Oh, so you think darkness is your ally? But you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it.

It is amazing what you find when you start cleaning out your closets. This is a high altitude training mask I bought a few years back. I used it a number of times when training overseas. I changed the filters out so that it no longer simulates breathing at Colorado type altitudes. Now it works great as a general protection unit.

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Salmon on the Barbie!

I felt a bit lazy today so I didn’t make food from scratch. I threw a couple frozen Salmon Burgers on the barbie. Added whole wheat toasted thin buns, spinach, and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. And yes, the mustard was Grey Poupon! I am not an animal!

Salmon burgers
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To Infinity and Beyond!

I don’t always eat healthy, so I have been slowly working on transitioning away from animal products. I still eat chicken and fish, but now even far less than in the past. However I still get carnivorous cravings from time to time. Luckily on my last Costco run I picked up a bunch of Beyond Burgers for my once a week carnivore “indulgence”. In fact this was my lunch from today. And yeah, I know that these aren’t much healthier. But today I really wanted a burger.

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Edamame Delight

This was dinner tonight. It took less than 10 minutes to make, and that includes boiling the water. It is Edamame spaghetti, spinach, and tomatoes with extra virgin olive oil, Rao’s marinara sauce and parmesan cheese. I also added pepper and a bit of garlic powder to the mix. It was delicious and filling but yet low in calories, low in carbs, low in sugar, low in sodium, and high in protein.

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Damn they are hardheaded!

Am I the only one having problems trying to convince older relatives that this virus is real and they need to keep themselves in the house? I ran around like crazy for the past two days making sure that they had all the stuff needed for them to just relax in the house. But no, today they need to buy canned soup and water from the grocery store when there are 4 and a half CASES of water and food in the dang house already.

And seriously, what is the deal with cases of water? Unless they stop sending water out of your faucet, what the hell are you worried about? They are stressing the hell outta me. Seriously, how hard is it to just stay in the house for a couple of weeks until this shit hopefully cools down? I understand that it might not be easy for some, but seriously why keep testing fate.

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Justice like Lightning!

I had to drive to and from Syracuse today. Driving back on those unlit highways isn’t as much of an adventure as it was in my youth. I made the mistake of mentioning this to my mom, who then gave me her special night vision goggles for driving. I was skeptical at first, but they actually work fairly well. I just wished that they didn’t make me look like Black Lightning.