Should I Get a Kindle?

With Christmas right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to re-post a nice little writeup my wife had on her love for her Amazon Kindle.  She tells me it's the best gift she's ever received, so I think it's safe to say she's happy with it!



I was so shocked when I opened my birthday/Mother's Day gift and saw that Mike had gotten me a Kindle. I had wanted one for a while since I absolutely love to read. I seriously think Amazon should put me on their payroll as an advertiser since I seem to promote the Kindle so much!



It seems that about half of the people I discuss the Kindle with tell me that they prefer actual books; maybe because of the smell, the feel & the idea of being able to see them stacked upon their bookshelves. Others seem very interested in the Kindle or another e-reader such as the Nook or even the iPad & want to know how I like it & what I like about it.

So, this blog post is to tell you the things I like or don't like about the Kindle.

The only thing I've found that I dislike about the Kindle is the fact that it's really hard to go back & find a part that you may want to re-read. It can take a while to click previous page over & over again if you don't know what chapter you may have been near. But what makes me love the Kindle so much?

• It can store an endless amount of books in one small package. Perfect for times when you may be taking a trip or even going to the beach & you don't want to pack multiple books.
• I absolutely adore the cute little case that holds my Kindle.
• Perfect for a spur-of-the-moment buyer such as myself who loves instant gratification. I'm the type who is in need of a book, hears about an interesting one & immediately wants to run out & purchase it.
• You can enlarge or minimize the print to your liking. I've found this most useful at the gym when I'm on the elliptical or treadmill and would normally be unable to read the print of an average book from that kind of distance. And since you don't need to open the book, it stays in place on whatever piece of equipment I happen to be working out on.
• The pages don't need to be turned & you don't need to hold the book open which makes it so much easier to get comfortable in bed while reading.
• There's a dictionary right at your finger tips. All you have to do is move the cursor right next to any word you may not know the meaning of &, poof, there's your answer!
• Long battery life. In the the 2+ months I've owned my Kindle, I've only charged it twice. And I read a lot! I keep the wireless off unless I'm searching/buying a new book which definitely helps conserve the life of the battery.
• Very easy on the eyes since it's not back-lit. I have a book light for it so I'm able to read in bed at night while Mike is sleeping. And since it's not back lit & has a non-glare screen, you can easily read it in bright sunlight.
• Very user friendly. By no means am I a techy person & I'm easily able to navigate my way through the Kindle.

But what do I love most about the Kindle? The fact that Mike is now also the proud owner of one so we're able to spend our nights reading in bed, side by side, like an old married couple!

What is the One Breakthrough Company with the Key to Global Commerce

I get emails from Motley Fool all the time, trying to get me to buy into one of their investment group emails or something.  Those guys are great at the extended, super long, extra special, wait for it, wait for it, now wait for it longer.....tease.  They get me to click on their stuff about 15% of the time just based off of curiosity.  Every time I think they're telling the truth that the "whole story" is just a click away....I find out they fibbed and they want you to sign up for one of their services first with no risk to me since I can cancel at any time.

 

Good thing we have the internet.  After a quick search for their latest teaser, a report based on a small Virginia firm called One Breakthrough Company with the Key to Global Commerce

I found out from a site called Stock Gumshoe that the company in question is most likely Rosetta Stone (RST).  I've never tried any of their products, so I have no idea whether this would be a good investment or not.  Has anyone reading this ever tried Rosetta Stone software?  I have a couple friends that gave it a shot and I'm looking in your direction guys!

 

Good luck to anyone that puts some money into RST.

 

 

Blend Fitness

So I'm going to start a new workout regimen starting tomorrow around 6 am. I signed up for this new gym called Blend Fitness in Lutz, FL, it's open 24 hours and it's kind of/sort of in the back of our subdivision (takes about 5 minutes to get there) so it's pretty convenient.

Now that I think about it, I could potentially ride my bike there in the morning and get 10-15 minutes of cardio out of the way before I even get there! Thanks for the idea, internet!

Anyways, I'm going to take measurements and stuff to see how much my body changes, and I'll post the changes here just so I can come back to it next year and reminisce to the good ol' days, when my body gets fat all over again. That's the spirit, Mike!

Waist: 42"
Right Bicep: 17 7/8"

Allison Pernecky, my little wife, helped me with the measurements and we took the waist measurement from just above where my hip bones ended. That's what the Google told us to do, so that' how we'll do it.

As for food and stuff, I think the first few weeks I'm just going to work out and not concentrate too much on my diet. I think my diet will improve naturally with me working out, it seems I eat better things when I'm actively working out than when I'm sedentary, so we'll so how that goes. After the first month or so I'll need to cut back on portions more, and concentrate more on what I'm putting into my body, but I don't want to shock it just yet.

I've asked some friends if they thought it would be a good idea to post pictures of me in my underwear to see how my body changes through the weeks and months...but they all said no. No idea why.

So we'll see what happens this time around. My goal is to weigh around 225 lbs and take inches off of my waist while adding inches to my arms. Thanks for reading.

My Own Android App!

Thanks to my buddy Josh (theJTOG), I now have an Android app that links to a mobile version of my blog!  Why?  Why not?!?!  If you have an Android OS phone, just take a picture of this SQARQcode with your Barcode Scanner app and it will take you right to it on the Market.  If not, just search for "Perno" and it will pop right up.  Thank you again Josh!

Coldplay Fix You Meaning

My song interpretation of Coldplay's Fix You.

I think "you" and "your" is him speaking in the 2nd person for most of it about himself, which that could even be another focus "2nd person" is about this second person also.  Until he goes to the lights will guide you home part, which he's speaking to the chick.  This is just my take....

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

He's tried his best to make this girl love him, and he didn't succeed. 

He got a girlfriend and she wants to have a good time so physically maybe they're good, but she says she doesn't want anything serious, so no "love" which is what we all need.

I think this is just him not being able to sleep because he wants to fix the situation but can't.

Just moving backwards instead of forwards in the relationship because he's aiming for love but it just gets further and further from it, like he can't win.

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Don't even have to go line-by-line here, he's crying because he loves this chick, she's like "no, I just want to have fun or just be friends, if you can't do that then we're done" and he just wants her to love him.

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

I think he pictures himself as the light and he wants her to come "home" towards him and fall in love.  His "light" will "ignite" the love in her (hopefully) and he's trying to "fix her" since she's "broken", meaning unable to love him for some reason.

High up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Maybe this is more big picture comparing two opposite spectrums of love, like "high up above" means you've found the one you love and you both love each other so much and are married and happy whereas "down below" is the point he's at, just down in the dumps about this chick not loving him back and never wanting to love him.  Both situations are too in love to let it go but the 3rd line is kind of like "if you never put yourself out there then you'll never feel either of these....yes most times you'll probably hit that low, but it's so worth it to get to that high in love that everyone needs so don't be afraid because when finally find that someone who loves you back, you feel the best you've ever felt and helps you to know your true worth when you see someone think the world of you."

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I...

(will try to fix you) is what he wants to say, he's being persistent and dedicated I think.

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from your mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I...

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Please comment if you have any ideas!

Time to Get Fit

I think I'm at the least muscular and highest body fat percentage levels I've ever been in my adult life, so I've decided it's time to start cutting back on some things in addition to adding a little exercise to my life.  Not just for myself, but also because my son and wife deserve someone a little healthier than I am right now, I'm not living my life just for myself anymore. 

The only real time I have a problem with eating bad things is during the NFL season (Mikey likey his wingies!), and I have until September to get into a healthier mindset before football time comes around again.  So this morning I woke up about 20 minutes earlier than usual and went for about a mile walk with my pug.  It was great for both of us and I look forward to increasing my activity level every week.  My goal is to get to jogging 2 miles at a time about 3 times per week, which I should be able to get to that point some time next month.  Weight loss is also a goal, I weighed myself this morning and I'm sitting chubby at 244 lbs.  My goal is to break into the 220's, so we'll see how that goes.

With the help of my friends at Google I'm going to try to keep track of how far I walk/run and keep it in some sort of spreadsheet just so I have a better idea of how healthy I'm getting, or how much I'm slacking.  I've downloaded their My Tracks app onto my T-Mobile MyTouch 3G Fender phone from the Android Market and look forward to reviewing my activities on a weekly basis.  Wish me luck!

Allergified Definition

Allergified (v): to be struck with allergies in a way that is easily noticeable to the general public.

 

"Man I was so allergified last night, the grocery store clerk probably thought I smoked some dope before coming into the store.  My eyes were SO RED!"

 

Allergies are a pain, good luck to all my fellow allergy-ridden folk out there.

DREA100 pvt 32b

My T-Mobile G1 was recently stuck on the multicolored bootloader screen (with the first line reading DREA100 pvt 32b) and wouldn't load past that stage.  I tried a hard reset and wiped everything clean, talked to T-Mobile tech support for over 30 minutes (we wiped everything clean 3 or 4 more times just in case) and it still wouldn't go past that page.  All they could offer me was the phone number to the manufacturer HTC who said it would be anywhere from $50 - $250 to fix the phone, OR I could spend about $150+ on a new Android smartphone!  Lucky me!

 

I wasn't about to take this lying down so I wanted to try anything I could to fix the situation.  This is where the CyanogenMod comes in to play.  I've known about this CyanogenMod for at least a year now, and I've known that it supposedly makes everything run a little faster and smoother and has a few extra bonuses, but I've always been a little scared to try it in case I bricked my phone.  Well I'm proud to announce that I successfully installed the CyanogenMod on my phone last night and it's been working like a champ thus far.  If anything changes I'll definitely report back but I'm glad I finally made the jump.

 

Should you do it if you own an Android phone?  Well I consider myself fairly techy...I've installed some hard drives, graphics cards, and lots of RAM into desktop computers, but I've never actually BUILT a computer from scratch, so I'm nowhere near an IT professional.  I'd only attempt it if you're familiar with how computers work, otherwise it might be best to stay away.  It's not the hardest thing I've ever done from a computer standpoint, but there were a couple spots where it got a tad confusing.  Just go to the link above and they lay it all out for you.

 

All in all, a bad experience with T-Mobile tech support (since they couldn't help me), but a good experience knowing my phone is able to easily take on a brand new custom operating system.  Hooray Android!

 

 

Quick and Easy Slow Cooker / Crock Pot Recipe

I read someone's recommendation on Facebook a few months ago to throw some ingredients together into a crock pot, I tried it, and it came out great.  I made it for my mom when she visited and she's asked for the "recipe" like 3 times now.  There's really no "recipe", just put this stuff into a crock pot:

• 1 lb of chicken breasts
• 1/2 lb of chicken thighs (leave this out if you despise dark meat, but I added it and my wife couldn't tell. Makes it better IMO)
• 2 big jars of salsa (spicy if you like it spicy, or mild if you don't like spice)
• 1 can of corn niblets
• 1 can of black beans

Heat all this stuff on low for 5-6 hours.  After that, take the chicken out and shred it up with a couple forks, it will come apart very easily.  Put all the chicken back into the crock put to absorb more of the salsa juice (at least 15-20 mins), and you're done!  Serve the chicken in taco shells with cheese, sour cream, diced tomatoes, lettuce, or whatever sounds good to you.  Add more/less corn or beans, or throw in a can of green beans if you really want to get crazy. 

 

It's totally flexible and totally easy.  Leaving it cook longer will only make it better, so don't feel like you have to rush it.  Enjoy!

 

-MP

 

 

Super Bowl Office Pool Game

I put a little Super Bowl strip card game together for some people and thought it would be useful to put it on the Internet since all the strip cards I found cost money. 

The strip card game is much easier than the traditional football "squares" since you only need to fill 10 spots instead of 100.  Just like the squares, it takes absolutely no football knowledge to enjoy.

Here are the rules, and here is the spreadsheet I put together.  We're playing for haltime and for the end of the game, with the end of the game having the biggest payout.  Let me know if you have any questions, good luck!

EDIT: Go here to generate the random numbers.  Enter "0" for the smallest value and "9" for the largest value, then click "Get Sequence".  Then just fill in the sheet with the numbers.  Tell your coworkers they can watch you do it if they don't trust you.