Restaurant Rave: Mooya

Get the Iceburger!

I'm a sucker for a good burger every now and then.  Steak-n-Shake and Culver's are two of my favorites.  Last summer, I ate at In-n-Out for the first time - that was pretty good too.

So when I saw a Mooya open up just down the street from where I live, I decided I needed to check it out.

After a Cub Scout pack meeting one night, I took my boys to Mooya to get some shakes.  The shakes were pretty good.  I like Culver's better.  Of course, being an ice cream fanatic, I'm fairly picky about my ice cream.  But the boys loved it.

A week or so later, another opportunity presented itself to go to Mooya.  This time I ordered a burger and fries.  Generally speaking, I try to have a bare minimum to nothing in the carbs category - so I was feeling a little anxiety about getting a full burger.  I figured I could just eat everything but the bread.  But as I was ordering, I found that they sell what they call the "iceburger" which is just their normal burger, but the buns are replaced with giant pieces of iceberg lettuce.  I was very happy with the iceburger.

Their fries are pretty darn good too.  So if you see a Mooya near you, go check it out.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

In 22 days, I ready 655 pages - about 30 pages a day.  But in reality, when I did read it, I would read 40 or 50 pages at a time, so I read this book over about two actual weeks.

The first two books were suspenseful and enthralling.  This one had all the suspense and thrill too.  But as I was reading it, I wondered if it really was going to be predictable or not.  I had this feeling about how I knew the book was going to end, but at the same time, I wondered if that is what the author intended and therefore was going to throw a major curve-ball at the end of the book.  It was that way for about the first 3/4ths of the book.

But by the time Blomkvist is rescued from the Yugoslav hit-men, I knew how the book was going to end.  Up the that point, I was teetering between "predictable ending" vs. "curve-ball".  After Blomkvist survived and the trial started, I wasn't in suspense as much.  The best way I can describe it is how I feel playing a long chess game.  Who is going to win remains in doubt for about the first 20 to 30 moves.  But then one player begins to gain small advantages and then reaches a tipping point when you know what the outcome is going to be.  From that point on, it's just a matter of finishing the game.  That's how this book read for me.

Now, the last part of the book was a bit unexpected.  I had completely forgotten about Niedermann until he entered the scene again at the very end of the book.  The last 30 or so pages were like the last big firework in a 4th of July fireworks display.

I'm selling all three books to Half Price Books tonight - I don't really want these books sitting around collecting dust and I don't think my wife will want to read them.  Also, I found all three movies (Swedish versions) on Netflix.  Not sure I'll watch them, but I'm tempted.

If I can find them at HPB tonight, I plan on getting Tipping Point, Outliers & Blink - all three by Malcolm Gladwell.  I keep running into articles citing one of these books - it must be a sign.

New Shoes!

The soles of my old Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10 shoe were wearing extremely thin.  I've been suffering the last few weeks and months with this 'ol boys.  But they have served faithfully the last few years.

I think I got them back in 2009 or maybe early 2010 - can't quite remember.  But they have a lot of miles on them.  Go ahead and click on the picture and take a look at that sole ... its worn out.

My new Brooks GTX arrived.  These are the trail version of the Adrenaline GTS shoes.  The GTS shoes are up to version 12 now.  So I guess that means I probably bought my GTS 10's back in 2010.  Anyway, the GTX is a trail show - more durable, the sole is beefier, the shoe is made of Gore-tex and is more resistant to water.

I'm really looking forward to my 4 mile walk today.

Just a quick update on the diet ...  I had tried intermittent fasting several months ago after reading fitnessblackbook and eat-stop-eat.  I came across a new blog - leangains - this week.  He talks extensively about the good things of fasting.  He also mentioned that LISS - low intensity steady state - while fasting might be better at burning more fat than HIIT.  So this week, I've been eating once a day; waiting 18-24 hours, walking 4 miles between meals and then having a dinner of mostly protein.  I've never felt better!

My mind is clear; I LOVE my 4 mile, hour-long walks with my dog Fritz every day.  And when I finally break my fast, I feel full really quickly and therefore eat less.  Now when I fast, I still drink lots of water.  And when I eat, I try to have mostly protein.  This week started off at above 217.  I last weighed in on Thursday and was at 213.2.  My wife's birthday was Thursday - we went out to eat.  And then we went on a date last night - out to eat again.  And I've not weighed in the last two days.  But today I'm fasting again until 6pm, and then having a light protein dinner.  Tomorrow morning will give me a good indication of how this week went.

Also, I have this goal of walking 4 miles every day for 1 year.  So far, I've walked 4 every day this week; I started Sunday night.

The Soul of Battle Part 3

I finally finished the 416 pages of The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny by Victor Davis Hanson.

The third part was about George S. Patton.

Let me first start off with noting some pages that I earmarked ... these quotes really struck a chord with me.

A quote from the Iliad: "Fate is the same for the man who holds back, the same if he fights hard.  We are all held in a single honor, the brave with the weaklings.  A man dies still if he has done nothing, as one who had done much." - Homer

This next quote shocked me.  Hanson had been discussing extensively the short-falls of Eisenhower and Bradley and the other generals - how they would not listen to Patton, but that history has since proved Patton was spot on with his assessments, strategic plans and tactics, time and time again.  He should have been the supreme allied commander in Europe.  And just what did it cost the world for not listening to Patton?  This is the shocking thought Hanson describes, "we should keep the issue of urgency in mind.  Patton's entrance into Germany meant - whether or not his infantrymen knew the full extent of Nazi atrocity to the east - not merely 'the end of the war' and a cessation of killing between Germans and Americans, but rather a halt to the entire Nazi industrial plan of killing innocents.  When he stopped, thousands died; when he advanced, the day of salvation was nearer."

Just how much life could have been saved had Patton been allowed to continue into Germany in August 1944? Hanson continues, "more Jews would be gassed from the time Patton closed in on the German border in late summer 1944 until the May 1945 surrender than had been killed during the entire first four years of the war."

That quote has spooked me ever since I read it.

They called him Blood n Guts because of his bombastic way of speaking, but in fact, had he been allowed his way, blood and guts of millions would have been spared.  Along those same lines ... I don't know if this analysis has been performed, but Hanson seems to make the point that if Patton had his way, the European war would have been over in the fall or winter of 1944 instead of May 1945.  If that is the case - had we won the war in 1944 and then turned our full attention to Japan - would the war in Japan had ended before August 1945?  Before the atom-bombs were dropped?

Anyway - the book was amazing - I could read Hanson all day.  The amount of knowledge in that guy's head is mind-boggling.  Sometimes I wish I could have discovered him in high school - I would have probably considered a different major in college after reading his books.

His epilogue summarizes the point of the book well.  In all the history of the world, three armies rapidly assembled; were convinced that what they were going was morally right and then they went out and accomplished the mission - destroying tyranny.  Each army was perhaps the most deadliest army in the world at that time - frightening many.  But when the mission was accomplished; they laid down their weapons and went home just as quickly as they took them up.

The next book in the list is the last of the Millennium Trilogy: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.  We'll be spending the day at the beach on Saturday - I might be able to get a lot of reading in then.

Bombers Over Houston!

We've seen lots of WWII airplanes fly over our home.  I am a little kid when it comes to WWII planes.  I am used to hearing the commercial jets fly over as they land at George Bush, so when I hear the deep rumbling of a WWII plane, I run outside to take a look.  We usually hear them when Wings Over Houston air show is running (October).  But every once in a while, we get one that flies over at times other than October.

All the ones I've seen thus far have been fighters.  Today I heard the big rumble of a B-17.  I grabbed the camera and ran outside and snapped a shot.

Someday, maybe I'll be able to afford taking a flight on the B-17.

Review: One Hour Air Conditioning

About a year ago, we signed up with One Hour Air Conditioning and Heating.  We pay a monthly premium and in return, we get two check-up services per year - one in the Fall and one in the Spring.

Last year, after we returned home from our Summer vacation in August, we found that the AC wasn't working.  We knew there was a leak in the coils, but we weren't sure how long it would last before the leak became too big.  So by August of 2011, the coils needed to be replaced - there was no reason delaying the replacement anymore.  We paid a lot, but since we were on the premium service, we received their "discount".

Fast forward to about three weeks ago.  We had the technician come out for the annual Spring check-up.  He checked both the upstairs and downstairs units.  They are both about 17 years old, but they still passed with a fairly clean bill of health.  So we were good to go for the Summer months.  Then, about 3 days passed and the upstairs unit stopped working.  We called One Hour on a Friday night (March 16) and they said they couldn't get a tech out until Sunday - fine, no problem and we scheduled the visit.

Sunday March 18 - all during church services, I kept an eye on my phone waiting for the 30 minute heads-up phone call.  Nothing.  We got home at 2pm.  Still no call.  I called them at 3pm to see if a tech was coming.  They said he was on his way.  Then my wife gets a call on her phone stating that they don't do work on the weekends.  That really surprised us.  So we called them back and they said they just merged companies and there was a mis-understanding ... something about one company not doing weekend work and the other doing weekend work.  But the bottom line is they reassured us the tech would come ... eventually.

The original appointment was for between 12 and 4pm.  He showed up between 8:00 and 8:30pm.  We had put the kids to bed and he quietly worked on it.  The circuit board was out and wasn't sending a signal to the fan to turn on.  I had checked earlier, outside, and the pipes from the outside unit were iced over.  He said he had a universal board ... it would cost $700.  Oh well.  He went to install it.  He came back downstairs and told us the universal circuit board isn't compatible with our unit - he needs to special-order the part.  That's fine.  So he jimmy-rigged it to by-pass the broken board so at least the AC would run.  We really only needed the board for the furnace to work.  He leaves around 10pm and said they would call us to schedule a follow-up visit.

Monday March 19 - no phone call from them.

Tuesday March 20 - I call them; explain the situation.  They tell me the part should be there this week and that they can go ahead and schedule the appointment.  We schedule it for Friday March 23 between 12-4pm.

Friday March 23 - I get home early from work.  One tech shows up - it's not the original tech we had requested.  It turns out this other tech is there to sell us a new AC unit.  I politely explain that we're not buying a new unit at this time.  This was at 1pm or so.  3:40pm - still no call from One Hour.  I call them and tell them that the tech still hasn't showed up and that we are leaving the house and that we will not be there after 4pm. So he puts me on hold to see when he can schedule the visit.  While I'm on hold, I hear the motto "Always on time ... or you don't pay a dime"  When he comes back, I ask him about the motto.  He said something for every 5 minutes the tech is late ... some amount of money is deducted up to $300.  Cool!  That's about half the cost of the circuit board.  I explain what happened to us on Sunday March 18.  He makes a note of it and says someone would call me to discuss.

Monday March 26 - the appointment is for - you guessed it - 12-4pm.  This time, the tech called ahead of time and showed up within the 4 hour block.  He did the work - did a great job.  Then we sit down to talk about the invoice.  I explained to him all of the above.  I told him I was ok paying (now $617) the bill, but that if something could be done about it now ... if I could get $300 knocked off it, then it would help.  I'd rather get the $300 knocked off first rather than having to pay in full and then try to chase down the $300 later.  Anyway, he gives me his supervisor's phone number and I call him.  I explain everything to him - including that no one called back after I had originally told them that they were late.  I said I'd like to get the $300 off up front, if possible.  The supervisor told me it wasn't $300 ... it was the whole bill!!  Wow!  Even better.  So I gave the phone to the tech and the tech talked with the Supervisor.  He hung up and zeroed the bill.  It didn't cost us a dime - just like they had said.  I was very impressed.  I was ready for a fight, but there was no fight - which was very, very pleasant.

So - I give One Hour 4.9 stars out of 5 stars.  If it weren't for the scheduling SNAFU, they would remain perfect in my eyes.  But the fact that they owned up to that problem and kept to their word - that we didn't pay a dime - it made up for the scheduling problems.

I fully endorse One Hour Air Conditioning and Heating.  If I were a rock star or a professional sports athlete or a radio/TV personality, I'd probably be endorsing them on the radio or TV right now.

Diet & Exercise Routine

The diet and exercise routine that I have currently posted will work for me.  I've played with this routine many times before and got it to a point that I felt it would work and help me shed the pounds.  But the last two weeks have been brutal and I've been eating like it's the holidays again.

The deal is, I can follow the routine when I am focused on it and life is not too busy or hectic.  But when work and family activities and weird schedules get in the way, I forget my plans and then I find myself where I am today.

I need to simply make my diet and exercise routine a habit.  I've made other habits and they've stuck ... because I placed the proper amount of focus on making that thing into a habit.  Now I need to do the same for my diet and exercise routine.  I may use this blog to help me stay focused and on track over the next 30 days.

The Soul of Battle Part 2

There were so many things discussed on the second part of the book.  Indeed it was about William Tecumseh Sherman, but it wasn't only just about his march through the South, but it was also about the man, a bit about his background, and why he, of all the generals, was the perfect candidate to finish the Civil War with his unprecedented march.

I can't recall everything that I found fascinating with the second part of the book, so I'll just write what I remember as having struck me as significant.

The Man - he was essentially a failure for most of his life.  He attended West Point with several other future generals.  He served many years in the military, but only as a captain.  While others saw battle in the Mexican-American War, he sat on the side-lines and saw no action.  He experienced failure as a banker and businessman.  His wife came from a wealthy family and thus he felt he needed to "strike it rich" to support her lifestyle.  He was one of the founders of LSU.  He eventually was recalled into the service.  But after a short while, he suffered a mental breakdown.  He then, miraculously, survived the battle of Shiloh.  He eventually lived to carry out the march that this book discusses extensively - the March to the Sea and then the campaign into the Carolinas.

The March - Hanson discusses how several people, including Grant and Lincoln, probably would not have agreed with Sherman's march into the South.  But he was given leeway to do as he chose.  He cut off his supply lines and his 60,000 plus army marched through the South, living off the land and plantations while obliterating the Confederate nation and those who supported the Confederate army.  His idea, in a nutshell, was to bring war to those who started it.  He felt that he needed to reveal the hypocrisy of the South's way of life.  The South - or the elite plantation owners - wanted to preserve slavery.  And they sent thousands of young men to defend that way of life, many of which were not slaver-owners.  Sherman proposed to strike at the heart of the desires of those elite plantation owners - their property.  If they had nothing left to hold on to, the war would be over - slavery would be over.  And so his army, marched deep into the South and on to the sea, virtually untouched, while they burned and dismantled everything.  For the next one hundred years, the South would despise Sherman's name.

The march would not have happened were it not for the unique experiences of Sherman - his failures, his past, his recent successes.  It would not have happened were it not for Sherman's desire to expose the hypocrisy of the South.  His soldiers, who were from the mid-West, not the East, caught onto his idea and caught the vision of the march.

When it was complete, over 100 million dollars of damage was done (which would be over a billion dollars of damage in today's dollars).  The South was ruined, and with it the capacity to wage war.

There was so much that Hanson covered in this second part and I'm sure he could have gone on and written an entire book on Sherman.  Again, I'm glad to have read more of Hanson's books, as I have learned more about a man, a war and our nation's history.

Found: xkcd

I try not to be too consumed by all the stuff I consume.  So I try to keep my RSS reader fairly clean and I keep my focus on things that I really like.  Stuff gets added; stuff gets dropped.

Today I added xkcd.

Here's a sample, which I picked because of the reference to chess and Calvin & Hobbes:

March 2012 Painting

My kids are very talented - they get it all from their mother.
#1 paints and draws well and plays the clarinet very well.
#2 also has a good eye for drawing; is a great writer and is very athletic.
#3 & #4 are still fairly young and their outstanding talents are yet to be identified, but we can see certain things that lead us to believe they have just as much budding talent as their two older siblings.

I will be posting a few of their pieces of all their art.

This one below is a painting #1 just finished last week.  It will be a Mother's Day present for the two grandmas.

Cornered by Blather

This "muse" was from several years ago when I worked in a cubicle and I would get frequent passers-by.  Nowadays, I have my own office with a full-fledged door!


I wanted to post this in light of today's Dilbert

Enjoy!

One of the toughest situations I face every day is being cornered by a blathering idiot.

The other day at a social gathering, a bag of hot air blows over my way and kicks up a conversation. "How ya doin' Rocky?"

I barely nod my head and begin to open my mouth to respond, but in that split second he starts up his bagpipe. "Yeah that's great! So my son made the football team. Yep, he's only a freshman and he made first team. We're real proud of Roy. Gonna be an all-American."

The bagpipe continues to issue steam. Every fifth sentence, I attempt to interject my own comment. "When I was in college, I played ..." Bagpipe blows louder for several more minutes. I try again, "Oh yeah, I remember when ..." Bagpipe shouts out to a passer-by and then says to me, "What were you sayin'?" "I was just going to say that I remember ..." "That reminds me" and the Bagpipe is going full-steam ahead.

Ten minutes later, I shout out to an imaginary friend and say goodbye to Bagpipe "I'll catch you later Bo!"

The key to dealing with a blathering idiot is to head them off before they gather steam. Usually, thinking up a good excuse to suddenly leave a conversation is vital to extricating youself from the corner.

When you're at your office desk and a blathering idiot enters, you can accomodate them for a few minutes and then pretend a meeting notice from your calendar just popped up. "Uuuhoop, sorry Brian, gotta run to a meeting. I'll talk to you later." Then you proceed to an office on the other side of the building and hide for 30 minutes.

The unexpected cell phone call will work too. You can pretend it's on vibrate and act like someone just shot you in the hip. "Oh man! Don't you hate it when the phone shocks you! Let's see who this is. Ooo! I need to take this call. Excuse me." Then you get up and rush out of the office like it's on fire. Head to the nearest exit and call your wife in case the blathering idiot follows you.

Sometimes you can instant message an ally to rescue you. Have him come over and pretend that he needs you to sign some important papers at his desk. Then promptly excuse youself from the blathering idiot and run like h-e-double-hockey-sticks.

If you fail to come up with excuses and extrication plans, then you will be forced to endure long, boring conversations. When the blathering idiot finally runs out of hot air, you will then have to endure several minutes of awkard silence interjected with several concluding remarks. "Well, that's one heckava story Jim." At this point, Jim is supposed to say, "well, I better get back to work" but no ... he lingers like a noxious fart. You may try to wave it away, but it spreads and endures. And with each passing moment, more and more brain cells are expiring. Eventually you marshall the courage to stand up and pretend like you're leaving. This causes Jim to release his grip. You're free.

Finally Jim leaves and you can breath freely again. While you can, you begin to jot down ideas for rescuing yourself the next time a blathering idiot corners you.

Exploding Whale

Here's an oldie, but a goodie.

Problem: dead whale on the beach and it really stinks.
Solution #1: cut it up and bury it. Nope. Too hard and time-consuming.
Solution #2: burn it. Nope. It'd probably smell really bad too and add to global warming.
Solution #3: blow it up with dynamite. Awesome! Outcome: raining chunks, blubber all over everyone in the vicinity, damaged car and most of the whale is still there!
Final solution: bring in the bulldozer.

The Soul of Battle Part 1

I started reading The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny by Victor Davis Hanson.  This book has been in my queue for quite a while.  It is divided into three parts, each about a military general Hanson admires: Epaminondas, Sherman and Patton.

I've decided to provide a quick summary of each part as I finish it.

I just finished Epaminondas last night.  I've read other Hanson books before and have read bits and pieces about Epaminondas.  But after I read the 120 pages about him in this book, I was left hungering for more about this incredible person.  The Greek and Persian history is drenched in conquest and continual war.  You often hear about the Spartans and the Athenians.  But rarely do you hear about the Thebens and their decade of liberation.

The Wikipedia entry on Epaminondas (if you want to hear how to pronounce his name, click here) is very interesting and provides a lot of information and historical background.  I learned quite a bit more about him reading the wiki entry after having my interest piqued by Hanson.

As usual, I found Hanson's writing amazing.  I love the way he writes and describes things.  Every time I read one of his books or articles on the web, I get this swelling feeling of pride in Western culture and civilization.  His descriptions of Epaminondas and his BC 370-369 winter liberation of Peloponnesia were very enlightening.

Before reading this first part of the book, I didn't know much about what his latest book was going to be about (The End of Sparta).  But now that I know the context of this book, I am even more excited to read it.

The next part will focus on William Tecumseh Sherman - another general I've heard bits and pieces about, but am nevertheless excited to read even more about.

Apple Cider Vinegar

One of my favorite parts of the day is reading Seth Roberts' blog.  Today, he linked to earth clinic.  Wow - what a site!  After spending almost an hour at the site, I arrived at the conclusion that apple cider vinegar (ACV) is the cure-all for just about everything.

I first heard of ACV last summer when my sister-in-law suggested that my wife and I soak our feet in a concoction of ACV and Listerine.  My wife tried it for several weeks, but I made her stop because the house was beginning to smell like used shoe - literally - it stunk like a dirty shoe.  She disagreed with me, until she walked into the house one day and realized that I was right.

What Seth linked to today was about toenail fungus and what to do to cure it.  ACV was the solution.  However, I didn't see any posts or comments that ACV had to be mixed with Listerine.  Some people said that by simply putting ACV on a q-tip and applying it to the nails, that that would cure the fungus.  But the comment that caught my eyes was the one advocating the ingestion of ACV.

One person said that by ingesting ACV - 2 teaspoons twice daily - that their fungus has gone away.  Upon further reading of the site, it suggests drinking 2 teaspoons of ACV diluted with 16 oz. of water per day, that one would lose weight.

Therefore, having had a severe toenail fungus problem as well as striving to lose weight, I plan on adding ACV to my diet.  To start off, I think I'll try 2 teaspoons with 16 oz. of water twice daily - once in the morning and once at night.

Below are pictures of what my toenails look like today.

Left - 2/28/12

Right - 2/28/12

Relative Size

http://htwins.net/scale2/scale2.swf?bordercolor=white

This is just fascinating!

King's Gambit by Paul Hoffman

Since this book is about chess and the chess community, I wrote the review of this book over at my chess blog.

My review here.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest should arrive in the mail later this week or early next week.  It comes out in paperback tomorrow.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The first quarter of this book read much like Dragon Tattoo.  It did a lot of setting up, but it wasn't really exciting or gripping.  The foreshadowing parts where you enter the world of Zala and his ilk gets you interested, but when the scene shifts back to Blomkvist or Lisbeth, it just moves slow.

Until just now, I had forgotten that Lisbeth spent the first quarter of the book travelling around the world.  Again, other than just setting up the background, the first part of the book just didn't hum along very fast.

But once you get past that, the book accelerates and is hard to put down.  This one was much better than the first.  The theme is still gritty, but there is much more intrigue and suspense than the first - at least that how it felt to me.

Also unlike the first one, this one ends quite abrubtly.  I remember reading the last few chapters of Dragon Tattoo and thinking that it was taking forever to finish.  This one, however, came to a halting stop.  Thankfully, Larsson publishes the first few pages of Hornet's Nest to somewhat alleviate the shock at the end of the book.

I bought the first two books in paperback.  Hornet's Nest comes out in paperback on February 21.  So I plan on reading King's Gambit until the 3rd book comes out in paperback.

Dis-jointed Week

I held to my routine on Monday and Tuesday ... but Tuesday was unusual.  I was over my cold, but my stomach just wasn't feeling well.  I had some bowl issues as well - which I suspected to be due to the CO.  So on Wednesday and Thursday, I did a bit of a fast - kind of going back to some old habits.

Essentially, I didn't eat anything all day until dinner time.  I just drank water, Crystal Light and hot herbal tea.  For dinner, I'd eat my fried eggs and an avocado.

I didn't do any exercise on Monday.  On Tuesday and did some weight lifting and a little bit of jump rope.  On Wednesday and Thursday, I did 45 mins and 60 mins of spinning (stationary bike).  So the calorie reduction combined with the cardio workouts has caused me to drop down to 211.

Overall, from January 3 to today, the decline has been steady, interspersed with spikes.  The upper horizontal line is 220lbs while the lower is 210.  The red lines indicate the time period between January 3 and 27.  The yellow line indicates the trend.

I've not been hungry the last two days.  But I don't know how much the CO has played in that assessment.  I plan go back to the CO next week.

Coconut Oil Links

My main staple for "tasteless calories" as I'm doing the Shangri-la diet again will be coconut oil (CO).  CO is not tasteless - it definitely has some taste to it.  Last summer, when I first heard of the benefits of CO, I texted my wife to see if she could pick up some at the store.  She happened to be at a friend's house and this friend buys and sells virgin CO in bulk - she's a big believer in CO - what are the odds?  So my wife asked her friend if she knew where she could buy CO.  Naturally her friend offered my wife some of the CO she buys and sells.

When I got home from work that day, I tasted the CO - directly into my mouth.  It wasn't too pleasant.  It tasted like I just took a bite of a bar of coconut flavored soap.  So I put it in a smoothie and the taste was still there.

So when I take my CO, I will always pinch my nose and then drink and swish water in my mouth to get the taste out.  By the time I un-pinch my nose, the taste is either not there at all or there is only a faint hint of it.

Yesterday morning, before I started my 'routine', I weighed in at 215.5.  Then I successfully went through my routine yesterday ... hunger wasn't an issue at all.  However, I am getting a cold - it started yesterday - so I felt a little weak by the time I got home from work at 5:15pm.  I ate an apple and then took the dog on an hour-long walk.  I felt just fine after that.

This morning I weighed in at 213.4.

My main question yesterday, with regard to CO, was how much coconut oil should I ingest daily?  Yesterday, I took 2 tablespoons at 8:00am and 2 more at 3:00pm.  I wasn't sure if that was too much or too little.  Before, when I was taking ELOO, I think I took about 4 tablespoons a day.

This link suggest 3.5 tablespoons a day.  That same site as a lot of other good info on the benefits of CO.

This link is heavy on the benefits of CO for the brain and for curing cancer.  But at the very bottom, the author suggests 2 to 4 tablespoons a day.

This link is excellent!  Not only does it confirm the 3-4 tablespoons a day, but it has a very succinct list of all the benefits of ingesting CO.

By the way, all of these links are from the first few hits from a google search (click here to see all the search results.)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I got sucked into this one with everyone else.  Several months ago, I heard Rush Limbaugh talk about these books.  I didn't think much of it at the time ... he piqued my interest, but at the time, I was just starting to get into Patrick O'Brian.

So when I saw that Daniel Craig was starring in the English re-make of the movie, I decided I needed to read the books (I like the James Bond movie and I think Craig is the best Bond ever).

It started out really interesting.  In between sections and chapters were little stats about abuse of women in Sweden.  I began to realize the author was going to make a point.  Now - I dove into this book cold-turkey.  I didn't really do any research on it before I began reading ... I just picked it up.  So I wasn't really prepared when a few parts got quite graphic.

After I finished the book, I read on wikipedia that Larsson wrote these books because he felt bad for not stopping a rape of a girl when he could have.

Other than the graphic parts, the book was quite good and entertaining.  Larsson does a good job painting a picture of the story.  However, the one thing I was somewhat expecting, was a complex plot-line with lots of twists and turns.  This didn't meet that expectation.  In fact, one of the first thoughts that popped into my mind was that Harriet was still alive and was, indeed, the person sending the flowers.  The details of how that story fits, of course, meandered and was the "meat" of the story, but I was somewhat expecting something different - more complex.

Anyway - overall, it was a good book.  Mentally, I file this book in the same folder as Dan Brown's books.  I plan to finish the trilogy ... I'm reading Played with Fire now.