Out with the Old, In with the New

When I bought my house in 2005, it came with 3 brand new stainless steel appliances.  There was a refrigerator, a dishwasher, and a stove/oven - all Kenmore products.  I had never really used a glass-top surface electric range before, but over the years I learned to enjoy its convenience and efficiency.

A couple weeks ago, I pressed the Bake button on the top-left part of the control panel and the side of the panel snapped.  Apparently the panel was held in by some plastic pieces that pressing it hard enough over the years caused it to snap.  The right side was still in tact, but it was just more difficult to press the buttons.  I continued to use the stove and oven as so until finally the right side collapsed as well.  The panel was now sitting inside the top part of the range, making it very difficult to access the buttons.  I decided to pull the panel out so that I could access it easier.  Everything still seemed to function this way.  However, when I tried the Bake button, there was a big spark and the circuit board was shorted and fried.  I guess the wires in the back were touching each other.  Whoops!  Rather than go through the hassle of trying to get it repaired (one would have to replace the panel and the top of the oven, but this thing is pretty old), I decided to just go looking for a new range.

Old Range - 2005 Kenmore

Since I cook pretty much every day and am also on this Paleo diet that even more so requires home-cooking, I wanted to get a replacement as soon as possible.  I went to three stores and looked at models.  I started at Lowes and found a GE and a Samsung I liked for $600 and $650 respectively.  I then went to Home Depot and they pretty much had the same inventory.  Sears was my last stop and they had the same as both of the previous stores, but they also had Kenmore models, but not for very cheap.  I decided I wanted to get the Samsung model.  Since I was at already at Sears and each place had the same thing, I asked them when was the earliest they could deliver the range.  Sears told me Dec 23...  I then went to Home Depot and they told me Dec 11th... Lowes turned out to be the winner since they were able to deliver the next morning!

New Range - 2014 Samsung

I installed the new range myself, using the old hookup cord.  I also learned during installation that I can have a gas range if I had wanted.  The new range has some cool new features, like convection baking, which baked my salmon perfectly the other day.  You can also set a cook time so that the oven will turn off automatically.  There's multiple cooking surface areas on the front two elements, so it nicely fits the pot you are using.  And finally there is a warming center...I guess that's kind of neat too.  I was lucky to get the stove at the end of the Black Friday sale that continued through Wednesday after Thanksgiving.  The range was $650 for me and apparently it's back up to $900 today online.

Although my old range was a good one and probably could have worked for longer if not for the poor panel design, it's nice to have a new range to play with!

Paleo Diet: Day 1

When I first learned that LeBron James had gone on the Paleo diet, I thought to myself, "why would LBJ need to go on a diet?"

For a while now, I have noticed an increase in my body's weight over the years.  I'm simply not as young as I used to be (now 31-years-old) and my metabolism probably isn't as fast.  And for anyone, as you get older it just becomes more difficult to exercise as easily due to life's other priorities, or perhaps your body just can't handle vigorous workouts as often as it used to.  I measured myself on the scale the other day and I now come in at 190 lbs and my waist measures 36.5" (+/- a half inch). In summation, I feel like a Fatty McFatty. :/ So I've been thinking, if the greatest athlete in the world feels the need to go on a diet every once in a while, why can't I?

I didn't spend too much time researching diets.  Over the months, I've read enough about the gist of these new era diets (gluten free, wheat belly, Atkins, etc) to understand the simple concept: cut out the crap and eat healthier.  Enough of my friends have tried some variation of some diet and it's worked for them in whatever way they chose.  And so begins my time on the Paleo diet...

DAY 1:

First things first, I had to make a list of the things I could eat and the things I couldn't and put it on my fridge so that I was reminded every time I got hungry.  This is my first time ever attempting a real diet, so it's a little intimidating at first.

DON'T EAT:
• wheat, grains, pastas, breads
• dairy, cheese
• potatoes
• soda, sugar, salt
• BEER
• vegetable oil

DO EAT:
• meats, fish, poultry
• eggs
• vegetables, fruits
• olive oil

This list is based off the Paleo website and is altered slightly based on foods I personally enjoy eating.

All of the items in the "DON'T EAT" section were hard to give up.  I noticed right of the bat that salt is in almost everything: my seasonings and my sauces. :(  And of course, beer is going to be tough to abstain from drinking, but I've gone weeks without drinking to prove to myself that I could, so it shouldn't be that bad.

Day 1: side view- 190lbs, waist 36.5"

Day 1: front view- 190lbs, waist 36.5"

On my first day, I had pork chops for lunch and a steak for dinner.  I used pepper and parsley seasoning, so fortunately it didn't taste bland.  I had a couple fried eggs using olive oil and then raspberries for my late night snack.  I then steamed enough cauliflower and broccoli to have for a few days to be added to the leftover meats I'm bringing to work for lunch.  Orange slices for breakfast, banana for afternoon snack.

I'll continue to maintain my normal workout schedule at the gym, which consists of lifting weights twice a week and running/playing ball another 2-3 times the rest of the week.  My goal is to knock off 10 lbs and at least 1.5" off my waist and do it all by December 20th, in time for the holidays back in Scottsdale, since maintaining the diet would be tough to do at my parents' house and there will be several of festivities where I'll want to enjoy an alcoholic beverage.  I'll return with updates after the 10th and 20th days.  Wish me luck!

Enabling Do-Not-Disturb on my iPhone 6!

For those of you who know me well, you know that I work flexible hours and prefer a later schedule in life.  In general, it's rare that I'll be in bed before 2am and even more rare that I would be up before 10am on a daily basis.  I maintain a pretty regular sleeping schedule for both weekdays and weekdays and I almost never set an alarm clock.

I'm thankful that I have a job that allows me to work a flexible schedule, but at the same time if my job needs me earlier in the day, I will make myself available.  One way of maintaining a flex schedule is leaving my cell phone on while I sleep so that my manager can contact me if they need me early in the morning.  However, it's challenging when someone else contacts me while I'm sleeping and being a light sleeper, if I receive a text message I will wake up from hearing the sound.  It's analogous to someone calling you at 4am in the morning if you usually get up around 6am...

In the past I had to tell my friends not to text me before 10am, but it would continue or happen with new friends who didn't know this.  Fortunately for people like me, there is a Do-Not-Disturb feature with iPhone 6 (or maybe it's just the iOS, whatever)!  I started using it and it works perfectly!

"Do Not Disturb" is accessed via Settings and I've set mine to automatically enable between the hours of 2am and 10am, my usually sleeping period.  One thing I had trouble with is making it so that just a select people (like my manager or my family) can contact me.  The default options are Favorites, No One, and Everyone.

 

So I found this app called "Groups" that is free and you can make groups and add contacts to them.  I created one called Emergency and it is now an option that is selectable.

Already Do-Not-Disturb has helped, as I received a text from my friend on the east coast at 4am but didn't hear it. So wonderful!  Sleep (especially uninterrupted sleep) is so invaluable for a stress-free life.  Thank you iPhone!!!

Raytheon Basketball A-League: Playoffs!

NEW UPDATE ON 11/10!

Last year, Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson invited IBM to play in their basketball league.  Raytheon is the largest employer in Tucson, supplying over approximately 10,000 engineering-related jobs.  Their basketball league is therefore a formidable one that must be separated into 3 leagues: A, B, and C.  In 2013, Raytheon invited us to be a team that plays occasionally teams from both A and B league.  We were simply a filler team and thus they asked us not to send an all-star team and implied that we wouldn't be eligible to actually win their tournament.  As such, we sent an average team and went about 50% playing mostly teams from both A and B league.

This year, Raytheon told us that there was a full spot open in A League, their highest league.  There were no restrictions this time, so at IBM I invited everyone who wanted to play a chance to play, and we ended up sending a lot of better players this time around.  The A-League in Raytheon is still very challenging (I'd say it's as good as your average city league) and the challenge most of the season has just been having all of our players available to play each night.

Tonight begins the 3-week single elimination tournament in Raytheon Basketball's A-League!  We'll already be down one key player, which makes it tough, but it's now win or go home.  Good luck to team IBM representing in the Raytheon League!

FIRST ROUND RESULTS:

Unfortunately, team IBM was not only without it's starting power forward but also it's starting point guard on this night, leaving us without 2 of our top players and scoring options.  IBM fell into a double-digit hole in the first half.  A good run by yours truly hitting three 3-pointers in a row cut the lead down to single digits with minutes to spare, but the opponent hit their free throws to close the game out and IBM lost 44-54.  Thus ends our run in the Raytheon A-League. :( It was still a lot of fun for me to be able to play alongside my friends when I don't usually get the opportunity to!