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inline search for Internet Explorer

Trust me on this, once you install it, you will NEVER go back. It’s that amazing.

Inline search is a feature already included by default in Mozilla Firefox and should have been included in Internet Explorer 7. So, until they actually do include it, here the add-on to allow you to use it!

So what is inline search? What this allows you to do is to search through Internet Explorer in real-time. For instance, say you’re reading a very long website and need to search for a specific word, usually in IE you would use the regular Find function found under the Edit menu or by using the combination of ctrl-f keys. Inline search replaces that little pop-up window with a bar at the bottom of the browser page. What makes this new add-on so cool is that as you type in each other, it queries the whole page at once and finds the first instance of the letter and highlights it. As you continue typing letters it continues to refine the search until it finds the word that matches all the letters you typed in. And then you can quickly find any other instances of the word with the click of your enter button.

Inline search is MUCH more usable and user-friendly than the default find window that is included with IE. I HIGHLY recommend you download and start using this new add-on!

Go download Inline search now!

flickr photos

I went to NYC last week. I spent 6 hours editing photos. Enjoy!

flickr

Reference Daily Intake

Upon doing some research about gaining muscle mass, I came across the Reference Daily Intake (RDI). Interestingly, I’ve never really thought much about it but now that I’m doing some weight training and exercising, I think it’s more important for me to know this kind of info.

Total Fat grams (g) 65 Saturated fatty acids grams (g) 20 Cholesterol milligrams (mg) 300Sodium milligrams (mg) 2400 Potassium milligrams (mg) 2000 Total carbohydrate grams (g) 300Fiber grams (g) 25Protein grams (g) 50

It’s based upon a 2000 calorie/day diet. This makes me wonder what kind of diet I have based upon this recommendation. What this intake reference doesn’t point out is how much or little exercise is assumed with this diet. Because I think blindly saying 2000 calories/day on with any exercise (even if that’s none day after day) is fallible. Not only that, but all humans have different metabolism rates. So to say that one fits all really isn’t a good practice. Hopefully people who use something like this don’t follow something like this strictly. Which also could explain why people who go on silly diets never lose weight.

the years of my life

When I take such long absences from posting on my website, I get lost for words. So much happens in a month and to try and summarize everything, sentences flowing nicely from event to event, can be arduous. It is then that the random nature of my thoughts is all I have to go on.

My month started with a short, somewhat unpleasant trip to San Diego. The best part was going to Seaworld for the first time. The worst was not enjoying myself and getting too little sleep. It’s because of experiences like this that you must re-evaluate your priorities and desires in life. But luckily, I caught up on sleep and will try to trust my gut more often.

I’ve started a huge project at work that has kept me constantly busy as I continually try to play catch up, rewriting code after code. You’d think I would be further along than I am but one thing leads to another. And I’ve had a much better month than August and July. When my site is finally redesigned, I’ll let you take a peek at it. Although, it’s rather technical and not so exciting. Oh, and it’s been just over six months since I joined this company. My, how time flies.

In less than two weeks, I shall mark my return to one of my favorite destinations: NYC. I’m going to spend five and a half days there enjoying the city, catching up with the bro, and meeting new people. I have no plans and hope to have as much fun as I possibly can in a great big city. My last visit to Manhattan was November of 2003. It has been much too long since that visit and I hope my next visit back doesn’t take me another three years. Who knows… Maybe soon in the future I’ll be spending week after week there for a while.

I have almost certainly finished most of my major freelance web design work. That’s a very good feeling as it’s been looming in the background since I began working full-time. This is also great because I can now get out there and start pursuing other things which make me happy, such as music and traveling. Being a full-time and freelance designer for almost all the time I’m awake during the day has burnt me out on web design. I enjoy the art behind it, I enjoy learning new methods and putting new puzzles together, but I am very tired of doing this day after day. I’ve lost a little of the passion. Which is why I think pursuing other things I enjoy during my freetime will help me regain the passion for it as well as build others.

This is the first weekend in a very long time where I felt like I’ve had so much time to myself. It is such a nice feeling to not feel pressured by projects that need to be done. However, I don’t want to get TOO comfortable because I need to stimulate myself with my freetime looking for new, cool opportunities. Time to get myself out there again. And maybe now I can finally get something going with all of this musical talent that I supposedly have.

Since my last post about working out more regularly, I’m proud to say that I’ve been fairly consistent over the past month. I jog no less than 3 times a week as well as life weights 3-4 times a week. It’s not like you can really see any results but I know I feel better because of it. However, my legs and knees are starting to feel a little on the bad side of this. So I need to be careful about what I’m doing. Time to start considering joining a gym.

Friday night was a great night. I went to CBS studios for the first time ever and was able to see a few studios. The foremost studio that I walked on was the Price is Right set! That was really cool since I’ve grown up watching it. But it’s always true what they say about TV adding weight. That studio is TINY. The stage is tiny. Everything was so small. And, actually being on stage where Bob Barker does his thing was really awesome. The other studios I visited were Bold and the Beautiful, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and Tyra Banks. Tyra’s studio is exactly as you would imagine… made for a diva. It is HUGE. It’s great knowing the right people!

These really are the greatest years of my life. And I truly believe it’s only going to get better from here.

knowing i’m better, but am i?

I can be so judgemental sometimes. And most of the reason for this is because I silently see something that I think I can do better. This happens so often and it makes me so negative towards people. I get upset sometimes when someone is acting a certain way and won’t change or won’t see it my way.

I admit that I might not always be right, but the way I analyze things comes from a very logical/practical mindset mixed with my personal experience. I take what I know I can do, what I know about life, and apply it to all situations that I go through or see others go through. Maybe we’re all this way. We all think we’re better than everyone else.

But my complex is deeper in some way, a lot of it being musically. I’ve been a musician for much of my life but not really a practicing musician. More of a sideline kind of guy. I enjoy watching and listening and feeling the music. In my head, however, I analyze music and break it down. I hear the bad pitches and wrong notes and bad vibrato and tones. I think to myself, “Why have I never challenged myself to compete with these people? I could kick their butts”.

I’m the only person who keeps holding myself back.

I’ve used being shy as an excuse for so long. I’ve never sought out others who could help me for one reason or another [insert poor excuses here]. But I’ve also had different agendas or ideas than others about how I should do things for myself and it’s kept me from going anywhere. I don’t want to just learn the piano and sing by myself. I need some guidance and help from others, but I’m too shy to seek out this help. Or too stubborn for their opinions. Most of it is being shy though. It scares me to try out new material in front of strangers at a random cafe when the spotlight is only on me while it’s possible that they might not like it. I can’t take this rejection very well. It’s pain and I hate pain.

When I’m at school, I’m the kid who keeps his mouth shut. I don’t talk to anyone because I don’t know who they are. Deep down inside, all I want is for someone to reach out and include me. Yet, sometimes I’ll still pull away for no reason when I’d rather they fight to include me. I think I have a stupid complex about the people I associate with sometimes, mostly when it’s with strangers. I don’t want to be the one who’s the center or attention at first but rather the one that people seek because of my wisdom or knowledge. It’s always then that I love being the center of attention. How can anyone desire to seek me when they have no idea what I know or what I can do.

This is my story with music. I have a lot of musical ambition, aspirations, but I’m too scared to sit down and try it out myself. I need to practice but it eventually bores me. I need to learn new songs but those take discipline.

If i intend to actually move on with my life in other directions, I must get over myself. Stop judging others and thinking I’m better and actually prove to people that I can do something. I lack confidence in myself. I can’t just start from scratch with nothing, so I need to build something before I move into other directions.

It’s funny thinking about this because I know what could happen. If I decided to finally pursue a life of musical performance, meaning a band or solo or whatever it is, I know tons of people who would be right there front and center to support me.

And that’s such a great feeling.
Motivational.

1 reply

commitment to the greater good

I’m not sure if I’m cut out for this. I’ve only had passing desires since I was in high school, and even then they were short lived. In the past ten or so years, I’ve made short commitments and stuck with them for a few weeks before giving in and giving up. And even then, I didn’t really know what I was doing because I didn’t care. I just knew what I wanted to be and look like, which was different than I am. The difficulty in making this happen is just doing it. No matter what.

Play through the pain.

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Little Miss Awesome

Little Miss Sunshine is the sleeper hit of the year. Not much advertisement but word of mouth is absolutely going to send this to the top.

I went to see it last night in Pasadena expecting it to be good, but it blew me away. I laughed so hard that I cried, not once but twice. This movie is truly one of the best out there.

[*********partial spoiler! – don’t read until you see the movie unless you don’t care*********]

If you have seen it, there’s a part where along the trip where Dwayne finds out his impairment and starts to go insane in the van kicking it and pushing on the ceiling. Then you see the van slow down to a stop by this random neighborhood. When I first saw this scene, after an instance of not recognizing it I suddenly realized that the neighborhoods you see in the background look familiar. Eerily familiar. In fact, I suddenly knew. That was MY neighborhood! The mountains in the background, the houses that you see, those are the same that I live in and drive through everyday! I’ve jogged on those sidewalks and drive on that road everyday! I was just in shock to realize they shot that scene no more than a mile or so from my house! It makes me wonder when they acutally filmed this (although I’m sure I was at work or something anyway).

Go see the movie. You won’t regret it!

silence is golden

…except when it’s on your personal website and people check it quite often. I’m here, but I’m not. I’ll post some more content soon, but I left this alone for a month for Google to pick up this previous post because it just pissed me off so much. I enjoy having a voice and Google enjoys indexing my site.

ipledge is NOT for men!

This year, I decided it was best for me to start taking Accutane again. I’ve had an acne problem since I was a young teen and it has adversely affected me physically, mentally, and emotionally. I feel self-conscious when I have even minor zits and acne, and the scars from the years of fighting this problem makes me unhappy about my appearance and confidence. I’m not easy to admit this but I’ve always been told the truth shall set you free.

Let me begin by describing Accutane. It is a popular brand of the generic drug Isotretinoin which contains a significant amount of Vitamin A. This helps to dry out your skin, which helps prohibit the development of oils that usually promote acne to develop. The medication can be so severe that it dries out the skin causing symptoms such as peeling, cracking on your lips, drying your eyes out, nosebleeds, and worse effects such as headaches and depression from the chemical imbalance and emotional challenge of this fight.

Last year, the FDA approved a program called ipledge aimed at targeting women to not use this drug while pregnant. Accutane can cause birth defects and thus is harmful for women who are pregnant.

That’s fine and dandy. Except men are required to enter this program.

That’s right. I’m required to register each month with ipledge, even though my chances of getting pregnant are ZERO. It’s physically impossible (even though a customer rep from ipledge claimed my chances of getting pregnant are really low! WHAT??) for me to become pregnant.

One of the very strict rules that the FDA has made with this stupid program is that if I don’t fill my prescription within 7 days of my doctor visit, I must wait 30 days to get back into the program, which is also the amount of time for the initial waiting period before you can get prescribed medicine. There’s no other reason than that.

The pharmacy at which I was getting my drugs first told me they couldn’t get into the system because of some password. They told me to wait a day. Fine. The next day I went in to get everything and they said they were still having trouble and that they should have it by Friday. I told them to give me a call when they have it. No phone call. I then called them back and asked them why they never called me. The lady who took my prescription was on vacation and never did anything about it. Then they claimed to have lost my prescription before calling me back saying they found it. By that time, it was too late anyway and they had to call to find that I didn’t qualify because of this 7 day waiting period. I’m never going back there again.

Needless to say, none of what happened was in my control and I am now, AGAIN for the 3rd time THIS year, taking ANOTHER 30 day break to restart the prescription. I called ipledge this morning and was very stern and aggravated but the guy (who had no idea what he was saying) assured me it was beyond his or anyone else’s control.

I hate the ipledge program. I don’t belong there, I don’t need to be enrolled, but in order for me to even begin to fight this mess I must abide by its rules. I should make a life’s not fair category and stick this under it. The worst part about this is that I’ve done everything I can up until now and have nothing to do but wait until my next appointment with the doctor. Not only is this affecting the treatment, but I now have to waste more money to see the doctor, more money on more prescriptions, and more time worrying about everything. I hate to worry, I hate being angry, I hate acne, and I hate ipledge.

Best Prank Ever!

I never had the opportunity to experience something like this, but you all know you thought about doing it in college. I wish I was ingenius enough to pull off something like or to have it pulled off on me.

The ultimate prank