Waffles

My son and I are having a debate about waffles. Are waffles inherently round, with squares? Or, can they be square also? I say a good waffle has to be square. That's what I've seen in restaurants, and that's how they turn out in my waffle maker. The round waffles are the ones you see in the grocer's freezer. Yuck! Blueberries and freezer burn, I say! But the best waffles have strawberry compote and whipped cream on top. I've even had them with ice cream and hot fudge. You can't stick that in a toaster!

It's the Waffle Song! Click Me!

Struggling with Weight Loss, Part 1

Most of my life, I have struggled with my weight. Last year, I had a wake up call when one of my legs went numb, and my weight ballooned to almost 350 pounds. I was easily winded when walking; I couldn't walk more than maybe half-a-mile before I had to stop. Also, my back was always hurting.

Finally, last summer, I said enough was enough. I started walking on a bike trail around a small lake in a local park. At first, I could only walk about a mile, but after my son started joining me, it would increase to two, then four miles. By the time the summer ended, I was able to go around the entire lake, then walk three-quarters around one way, turn around, and walk the other way all the way back. The total distance was almost five miles. By Thanksgiving, I was down to 300 pounds, and by Christmas I was 285.

Unfortunately, recent trends don't bode well. This summer, circumstances have prevented me from being as diligent with my weight loss routine than before, and my weight has crept up again to around 305. Although this doesn't seem like a huge setback in the grand scheme of things, it is one for me. What I need is some motivation to hit it hard again. I'd like to be around 250 by Christmas. Can anyone give me some inspiration?

HTML Trick #1

Once in a while, I'll mention little tricks that I've learned while making bad-ass websites. Okay, while trying to make bad-ass websites. Anyway, at work, part of my duties is to coordinate meetings and compile numbers of people who are going to attend them. The layman's term is "RSVP," if I remember correctly... Anyway, a problem I recently discovered is that when coordinating multiple meetings at once, many respondents don't specify for which meeting they are replying. It's aggravating trying to figure out which meeting they're coming to, and embarrassing to have to ask them each time. The best solution to this problem is to embed a hyperlink to your email with a subject line. This is how you do it: <a href="mailto:youremail@abc.com?subj=Email Subject">clickable text</a>. In this example, when you click on "clickable text", your mail application (such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Lotus Notes, for example) will open, and you should see "Email Subject" in the subject line. Now, when anyone responds to your meeting notices by clicking on your email link, the subject shows up automatically, and no one has to remember to type it in. Easy!

Shutter Island Is a Fantastic Movie!

I finally had the opportunity to see the Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I'm not going to spoil the plot for anyone that hasn't seen it yet (or read the book), but I think it's one of the best psychological thrillers I've seen in a long time. I have to admit, for someone who used to bunk with Kirk Cameron on Growing Pains, DiCaprio has certainly broadened his range a bit.

I have a feeling that the movie may be better understood if I read the book; without going into any detail, the ending did make me scratch my head a little. All I can say is that, if you haven't seen this movie yet, what are you waiting for?

My First Book Recommendation!

You will find as this blog progresses that I am a voracious reader. If the book engages my interest, I am unable to put it down until it's either finished or I succumb to exhaustion. With that said, here's the first of many book reviews I'm sure to write for probably years to come.

The book I am reading now, for the second time I must add, is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Zen Living by Gary R. McClain, Ph.D., and Eve Adamson. I picked it up about a year and a half ago, while I was going through a personal crisis; I suppose one of many. The title may sound hokey, but this book has really inspired me to make positive changes in my life.

The first thing to note is that it does not preach or espouse Buddhism in any way. The first couple chapters do explain the history, basic beliefs and philosophies of Buddhism, and in particular Zen Buddhism. However, after that, the remaining chapters apply what you've learned with the fundamentals and apply them to daily living. Of particular interest is the use of mediation for effective stress management. Believe me, I've read that chapter over and over again!

As the book progresses, it discusses the application of Zen philosophy to yourself, your family, your home, and even school or work. One theme that is stressed repeatedly is to have the ability to detach emotion from physical objects; that wanting money or other items only create suffering. When I read that part, my first reaction was "Whoa!"

So, if you're looking for some ways to be able to manage day-to-day stresses of the world, give The Complete Idiot's Guide to Zen Living a read. 

An Inspiring Story

I just saw this story on ABC's "20/20" and I was awestruck. This gentleman, through sheer determination and with the right support, was able to lose 401 pounds. I can relate to this guy. I struggled with weight most of my life as well, and while I never reached 600 pounds, I did top out at 350. Last year, I decided to make a change, and after six months, I dropped close to 70 pounds. Unfortunately, recently I've regained about 15 pounds. However, after seeing this story, I'm re-inspired to get active again. You can see the story yourself here.

Effective Time Management...Sort Of

The other day, I was watching a show on astronomy. Specifically, I think it was about dark matter in the universe, and whether we can prove it exists. Strangely enough, this post isn't about that at all. It's about the ingenious idea I saw one of the astronomers being interviewed was doing. He duct-taped his laptop to a treadmill, and was working out while crunching some cosmic data or some such. Pure genius! I could pound out some work while trying to drop weight. So, tonight, I decided to try it myself, except without the duct tape. I forgot that the speed switch was on the top, where I was going to lay the laptop, and every time it shifted, it would knock the switch to high speed. I almost fell off with the laptop nearly falling on my head. However, call it determination or stubbornness, I have an idea on how to make it work, though. Time to make some blueprints.

Welcome to the Scot-Spot! (Or, the Joys of Blogging)

Welcome to the Scot-Spot! Here, you'll read about tips, tricks and observations that I have learned throughout the day and want to share with you! Current events will also be addressed as well as any links or sites of interest.


For instance, I'm learning very quickly the value of staying connected. For a while, I have been active on Facebook, however, I was very resistant on joining other social networking media such as Twitter. A friend from Japan finally convinced me that Twitter isn't as evil as I made it out to be, and I'm glad I listened. I now can stay informed with the news, company information, and various social issues. I may not tweet much myself, as no one really cares about what I have for breakfast or the fact that my tie doesn't match with my shirt, but reading other tweets is very engaging.


Secondly, I strongly recommend joining the website LinkedIn.*This is a great networking tool, and I was surprised to find a large number of my former colleagues are already members! This site allows you to post your resume, contact information, and even allows you to post recommendations of your colleagues for others to see, as well as receive recommendations from them. LinkedIn does have premium features for a nominal fee, but the free features seem more than adequate for moderate networking. It's hard to pad a resume with this site!


Other sites exist that are worth mentioning, as well. Later, I'll give a blurb on lang-8.com, a native-speaker foreign language social networking site. 


I'm going to digress for the moment, since it's worth mentioning that the great BP oil spill of 2010 appears to be finally over. The folks along the Gulf Coast have been through much in the past three months, and our prayers are with them.

*I'm not in any way affiliated with or compensated by the LinkedIn web site.