Congratulations, Joe! Great shot!Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
10 Quick Tips to Improve Your Self-Esteem
10 Quick Tips to Improve Your Self-Esteem
1. Do what you love.
Everyone loves to do something, when you indulge yourself in your love you improve the way you feel about yourself. You improve your self esteem.
2. Help others out.
Nothing makes you feel a warm glow than when you unselfishly help others. of course you can argue that this in itself is selfish, but if you take that line of thought you must think that existence is selfish. Forget that. Just do a good deed, help someone out, doesn’t have to be big and it doesn’t have to cost any money.
3. Acknowledge your strengths
There is no one who has no strengths. Everyone is good at something, know what your good at and give yourself a pat on the back. Do things that bring this quality out into the open. Excercise it, make it stronger.
4. Don’t put up with crap.
There is no reason you should tolerate other people being mean to you. Even if they say they are doing it with love. Make sure people know they should be nice to you and if they refuse, walk away from them.
5. Drop your negative friends.
Hang out with people who are positive and support you. It may be fun to bitch and moan but if you hang out with these types of people you will eventually become one of them. You may have noticed that people who bitch and moan are never happy.
6. Do your research
A lof of self help books are a waste of time in the sense that the only person who can change you is you. Reading even this blog post will not change you unless you get emotionally involved with the information. Which is really hard as it’s really dry and boring. Go read biographies of people you respect, people who do positvive things and attain huge success. Learn from the master not the self help guru who is always in debt.
7. Learn to accept compliments.
It’s hard to accept a compliment and not to dismiss it as being ridiculous. Someone has an opinion and it should be respected, even if you do not argree with it. If people think good about you then maybe you should too.
8. Include positivity in your life.
I’m not talking an airy fairy chant in the mirror whilst naked. I mean take a positive slant on everything automatically. The meat pie you just bit in to may contain maggots, but maggots contain a lot of protien. OK that’s a bit extreme but you get the point.
9. Compare yourself against yourself.
If you look at how you were yesterday and how you are today and there is an improvement then that is great. If there is no improvement then you know you need to improve your efforts. Don’t start comparing your self to other people. Saying you are poor compared to D. Trump is just going to make you miserable.
10. There is no need for you to put yourself down.
y seeing yourself in a negative light you are only reinforcing your low self esteem. If you want to improve your self esteem. Ask yourself, how can I improve my self esteem. The answer will always be, find one positive thing about yourself and that will do it.
http://www.lyndonantcliff.com/positive-thinking/ten-quick-tips-to-improve-your-self-esteem/
Improve Your Posture
Improve Your Posture
Also, try Yoga At Your Desk.
When you correct your posture, especially if you work at a desk all day, you’ll be rewarding yourself later in life. Back pain, stress etc. It all gets sorted. Try this tip.
Shoulders Back & Down. Slouching the shoulders leads to rounding of the upper back. This stresses your neck, elbows & wrists.
Whether you’re:Sitting at your desk Driving your car Performing a Bench Press Put your shoulders back & down. It will keep you in good health.
7 Postural Habits To Make Now To Increase Your Health - [DumbLittleMan]
This interesting diagram from Flickr’s Bluelephant was clipped from this article also.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Diet Soda makes you FAT!
Diet Coke is a Joke
Diet Coke, regardless of how many calories it has, wreaks havoc on your fat loss efforts and will ultimately cause you to gain weight. There are two main reasons for the Diet Coke fallacy. First, the sweet taste from Diet Coke elicits an insulin spike, which blocks your ability to burn fat. Second, artificial sweeteners found in Diet Coke disrupt satiety, the feeling of being full. Combined, the actions of Diet Coke go against a healthy lifestyle. Understanding why ensures that we think twice before consuming it.
When it comes to losing fat, it is more about how much sugar (or sugar substitute) you consume rather than calories or dietary fat intake. Hence, the goal is to consume as little sugar or sugar substitute as possible (including fruits and their juices). Why? The sweet flavor elicits the release of insulin from the pancreas to enhance the uptake of sugar by the cells so that it doesn't linger in the bloodstream. Once insulin is released it inhibits your fat burning hormone called HSL (hormone sensitive lipase). This hormone is responsible for releasing fat into the bloodstream to be utilized as fuel. If inhibited, your body is unable to burn fat and will then begin utilizing amino acids (from muscle) and carbohydrates as fuel. This will leave you feeling tired, grumpy, and sloth-like toward the end of the day. Not to mention, you will become abnormally hungry. Those with large amounts of HSL burn fat all day and look thin and slim. Those who inhibit it by eating or drinking the wrong substances grow fat throughout their adult years.
Second, as discovered by Professor Terry Davidson and associate professor Susan Withers at Purdue University, artificial sweeteners disrupt satiety, the feeling of being full. Their results, published in International Journal of Obesity showed that "mouth feel" plays a crucial role in the body's ability to count calories and that when we consume artificial sweeteners we disrupt the body's ability to count calories based on sweetness. Not able to use mouth feel to count calories, those who drink diet coke will overeat without conscious awareness. In other words, you think you're not eating like a pig, but in reality you are.
Diet Coke is not the only substance having these abilities. Makers of health food bars and protein supplements are either not aware or ignore the ill effects of sugar alternatives and sugar. This can be seen by the fact that most every health food bar and protein supplement is loaded with sugar or artificial sweeteners. The belief that these bars and supplements are healthy for you is a perfect example of how marketing strategies can supersede medical science and common sense.
In closing, Diet Coke is a joke. Stay away from it and other sugar sources if you're serious about losing fat and keeping it off forever. Regardless of your diet and/or training efforts, the aforementioned ill effects of sugar alternatives and sugar will greatly hinder them.
-----------------------------------------
Shane Ellison holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first-hand industry experience with drug research, design and synthesis. He knows that American's want and deserve education, not prescriptions! His shocking book can be found at
www.healthmyths.net - His nutritional supplements at www.health-fx.net.
Parents Day
July 24 is...
Parents Day!
I'd like to give a special shout out to my parents, Mr. Keith and Theresa Baker, Missionaries to Haiti, West Indies! My parents are the greatest people to ever give birth ten beautiful children! Due to their wisdom, patience, and loving guidance, me and my siblings have grown to be the amazingly smart and talented contributors to society, and active citizens of the world. Continue to pray for them and Kasey and and Kevin as they prepare to go to Haiti.
Special thanks to Joe Philipson for designing my parents' prayer card.
Parents Day!
I'd like to give a special shout out to my parents, Mr. Keith and Theresa Baker, Missionaries to Haiti, West Indies! My parents are the greatest people to ever give birth ten beautiful children! Due to their wisdom, patience, and loving guidance, me and my siblings have grown to be the amazingly smart and talented contributors to society, and active citizens of the world. Continue to pray for them and Kasey and and Kevin as they prepare to go to Haiti.
Special thanks to Joe Philipson for designing my parents' prayer card.
Monday, July 23, 2007
4 Easy Photoshop Techniques
4 Easy Photoshop Techniques that will make your photos POP
This tutorial with photoshop techniques for making your images ‘pop’ has been submitted by Elise Hennen from 28 Studios. Read more about Elise below.
#1: blur/overlay
Duplicate your picture layer by dragging the layer to the ‘new’ icon in the layers palette (ctrl+j).
Apply a gaussian blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur…). Blur it enough that the detail disappears but the shapes mostly keep their form.
In the layers palette, change the blending mode from ‘Normal’ to ‘Overlay.’
If you look at the before and after, you can see that this method makes the light tones lighter and the dark tones darker while softening it a touch. Basically, it softly boosts the contrast. If you want a more dramatic effect, try changing the blending mode to ‘Vivid Light’ instead of ‘Overlay.’
Try it on all kinds of shots: portraits, nature shots, you name it. I use this method ALL the time. It works so well with everything!
#2: filter the background
This one can be fun… With a picture open, duplicate the layer (as always). Use your lasso tool to roughly select the subject of your image.
Feather the selection by going to Select > Feather (ctrl+alt+d). We want a pretty large feather, so what you input depends on your picture. Try 50 pixels. Go to Layer > New > Layer via copy. You should end up with just your subject on a new layer with a nice feather to it (fades at the edges).
Select the layer copy below your subject layer. Start trying out filters. I used Filter > Brush Strokes > Dark Strokes for this example. Most of the Brush Stroke filters work well with this effect. Using blurs tends to look a little funny. When you’ve got it all done, your layers palette should look a little like this:
That’s it. Try this out with lots of different filters. If you want to tone down the effect, change the opacity of the effect layer. If you want to get more advanced with your subject selection, you can duplicate the layer, mask it out, and use a large soft white brush to paint the subject back in.
#3: neon glow
Have you ever played with neon glow and wondered when the heck you were ever going to use it? Well, it’s time to give it another shot. This can add a touch of color and drama to your shot.
Duplicate your layer, then pull up Filter > Artistic > Neon Glow. Pick a color that you think will complement your shot. In mine, the cat is lit with sunlight, so I went with a yellow to exaggerate that. Start with a glow size of 4 and a glow brightness of 18, then tweak it to suit your shot. This is what I ended up with:
I’ll bet you can guess what’s next. You got it — change the blending mode to ‘Overlay.’ Also cycle through those modes: soft light, hard light, vivid light, and linear light. I prefer overlay and vivid light with this effect.
#4 easy blur
This one nearly passed me by… it’s a wonderfully easy effect to soften a picture. Try it on portraits.
Duplicate your layer and apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) so that the details start to go, but not too much.
Set the opacity of the layer to 50%. This is a great, super-simple way to soften a picture. It can give it almost a dreamy look. Play with opacities until you find something that works really well with your shot.
Was This Post Helpful? Digg it Here
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/4-easy-photoshop-techniques-to-make-your-pictures-pop/
Ken's Birthday
July 24 is...
My brother, Ken's Birthday!
Ken and his oldest daughter, Makenzie.
My brother, Ken's Birthday!
Happy Birthday, Ken!
Ken and his oldest daughter, Makenzie.Sunday, July 22, 2007
Ice Cream Cone Day
July 23 is...
Ice Cream Cone Day.
Maia and Joe eating Taro ice cream and shave ice!
Ice Cream Cone Day.
Maia and Joe eating Taro ice cream and shave ice!Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Sprint Cancels Army Unit's Cellphones For Roaming Too Much
More Brilliancy from my good friends at Sprint...
arm outrage missiles
arm outrage missiles
Sprint Cancels Army Unit's Cellphones For Roaming Too Much
Sprint canceled the service of 200 Army men and women who had just come back from Iraq. For roaming too much. Because Sprint hadn't installed a tower close enough to their base. A little ol' backwoods place called West Point.
Sprint eventually apologized and agreed to reinstate all the accounts of those who called in and identified themselves as members of the armed forces.
Really, though, the Sprint robots were just doing their job:cancel the account, without prejudice, of anything unprofitable that moved.
The flip-side of course being that if you want to cancel Sprint without early termination fee, just figure out a way to make more than 50% of your calls for a few months while roaming. We hear the Army still has a few open slots.
Sprint Giving Military Members the Boot [SprintUsers.com]
(Photo: foundphotoslj)
TSA Confiscates Water Bottle, Misses Bomb
Your Government
TSA Confiscates Water Bottle, Misses Bomb
Federal inspectors were able to slip a bomb past the TSA 5 out of 7 times, according to the Albany Times-Union. Here's the best part: One fake bomb was placed in the same bag as a bottle of water. The TSA opened the bag, took the water, and let the bomb on the plane.
The TSA spokesperson responded:
"We don't discuss the results because they tend to paint an inaccurate picture of the competency of our work force," she said. "The tests are designed to be incredibly difficult and TSA does anticipate a fair level of failure."They seem pretty good at detecting Evian, though, don't they?
Fake bomb eludes airport test [Times-Union via BoingBoing]
(Photo: antigone78)
Monday, July 9, 2007
Swimming Pool Day
July 11 is...
Swimming Pool Day
So nice to chill by this pool in the evening in Waikiki, and listen to some live, local music.
Swimming Pool Day
So nice to chill by this pool in the evening in Waikiki, and listen to some live, local music.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Ppt-Out of Sprint Selling Your Data
Opt-Out Of Sprint Selling Your Data
Sprint notified customers that unless you opt-out, Sprint reserves the right to share your private calling data with third party marketers. Sprint hires these companies to market other Sprint services to you.The data includes:•Thursday, July 5, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Jennifer's Birthday!
My sister-in-law, Jennifer's Birthday!
(Jennifer and Kyle)
Happy Birthday, Jennifer!
(Jennifer and Kyle)Happy Birthday, Jennifer!
Independence Day
July 4 is...
Independence Day! - July 4, 1776
Independence Day! - July 4, 1776
I LOVE AMERICA
By Dr. Jack Hyles
HTML Version
Baptist-City.com
It was the Monday morning of the opening of the 1977 Pastors' School. Several thousand men of God were traveling from all across America to assemble at our church for a week of training. America lay heavy on my heart. While in tears all the time and on my knees much of the time, I expressed the reasons that I love America. This poem was read during the sermon, "One Nation Under God," which was preached before several thousand at the aforementioned Pastors' School.
I love Thanksgiving when we pray,
And July 4th and Labor Day
With picnics, ants, and hungry flies,
And barbecue and hot French fries,
With Cokes and chips and apple pies
Beneath some hazy, lazy skies.
I love Miami's royal palm
That oozes forth a healing balm
Beside the ocean's quiet calm.
And Betsy Ross, and Orville Wright,
And dear Ben Franklin's flying kite;
And Thomas Jefferson's mightly quill,
And Alamo, and Bunker Hill,
And Paul Revere's midnight ride,
And Wilbur Wright's successful glide.
I love United's friendly skies;
And baseball when the umpire cries,
"Play ball!" as thousands quietly rise
To turn their moistened sober eyes
Toward waving flag that proudly flies.
And Casey Stengal's Stengaleze,
And Dairy Queen, and Tastee Freeze,
And cotton candy at the zoo;
And corny dogs and Big Macs too;
And Burger Kings, and shopping malls,
And hockey pucks, and basketballs.
And Mississippi's cotton fields,
And Holland, Michigan's spinning wheels;
Monotonous midwestern plains,
Florida's sun, Seattle's rams.
Atlanta's lovely, dogwood trails,
And Santa Fe's long clicking rails.
I love the Rocky Mountain peaks
Beneath a sky which mutely speaks;
And Disney World, and Disney Land,
And Georgia's fertile blood-red sand:
The Mississippi, and Rio Grande;
Wisconsin's cheese and dairy land.
I love McDonald's chocolate shakes,
And Minnesota's thousand lakes;
The Royal Gorge's mighty yawn,
A sleepy Alabama dawn;
The harvest moon that shineth on.
I love to gaze at Yellowstone
While licking on an ice cream cone;
And Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge;
And Ford, and Chevrolet, and Dodge.
I love the stately Empire State,
And San Francisco's Golden Gate.
I love St. Louis' friendly arch,
The Statue of Liberty's burning torch,
The Washington Monument's prickly goad,
And Colorado's trail ridge road.
I love "My Country, Tis of Thee,"
Oh, blessed land of liberty.
Long may our glorious land be bright,
With freedom's wondrous holy light,
Protect us by Thy matchless might.
I love to stand with hand o'er heart
And think of those who did their part,
Who left a mom a lone gold star,
Whose bodies rest 'neath fields afar.
I love New England's rolling farms,
Its quaint decor and blushing charms.
I love the azalea's freshened blooms,
East Texas' roses sparkling plumes.
I love it when my church choir sings,
And know the peace that worship brings.
There beats within my breast a dream
That that small faint and flickering gleam
Will soon become a mighty flame
To spread to all His matchless name:
That those dear four who call me "Dad"
Will know the country I have had;
Where freedom's flag flies proud and high,
And those dear ones may loudly cry,
"I'm free! My dad helped make it so.
That faint small gleam is now aglow!
That Christian land that he once knew
Is now the kind that we know too!
God's judging hand has now been stayed,
So I and mine are not afraid,
For churches like our own abound
In every city, village, town!
We're free to witness, visit, teach
The same dear truths we heard Dad preach!
And now we vow to God above
To pass it on to those we love."
Monday, July 2, 2007
Idaho Admission Day, 1890
July 3 is...
Idaho Admission Day, 1890
I'd like to give a shout out to Mrs. Cindy Ramos, who is a native of Idaho!
Idaho Admission Day, 1890
I'd like to give a shout out to Mrs. Cindy Ramos, who is a native of Idaho!
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