A Little More Motivation

I was curious to know if working out has any long term effects. I mean other than being fit, thin and active (those are all great but there must be something going on inside).  Since picking up running (more like walking at this stage in the game) I have been doing a lot of reading about its lasting effects. The most interesting thing I have found are studies done on people who have early signs of dementia.

What has been found is that people who work out on a regular basis are more likely to remain cognizant and less forgetful longer. Now if there ever was a reason to work out more this has got to be it.  Everyone has days when you walk in to the house and forget why you went upstairs, that is normal and we joke about it. Can you imagine feeling like that all the time about everything?  After reading this article on Scientific America it just made me want to grab my running shoes and get out there.

Perhaps I can use this as  my reason for running. So far I have been using it not to lose weight, I am blessed to not have that problem, but to release stress and just be more active.  There is a common misconception that has always bothered me when I talk to people about being active.  Everyone always thinks that there are two kinds of people in the world. Skinny and fat people, the skinny are active and work for their body figure while the fat are lazy and don't do a thing about it. This is not true, I am actually a very lazy person but I also happen to be very thin. Just because I have a fast metabolism right now does not mean that I will have it forever. I understand that if I don't fix the lazy habit now and just push myself to get out there then one day I will end up gaining weight, and losing my mind (literally).

I was reading the Nexercise blog this afternoon and they had an interesting post about exercise and Alzheimer. They included this image and if you are interested in the full article it can be found here.

There are plenty of other benefits such as faster metabolism, lower blood pressure, better circulation... the list goes on and on. I think the real question is if exercise is such a simple thing to do why doesn't anyone do it?

I have been really happy to see that there are so many apps that have been popping up all over to help motivate more people to get out there and move. Feel free to share what your favorites are.

Nike+ Testing

On Friday Nike+ was finally released for Android. I can not express to you how happy I was to discover this and to discover that with the app you do not need a sensor or FuelBand to track your Nike fuel (just saved me $150 for not getting the FuelBand).  Since this app is still in its first week of release there are minor issues that are still being worked out but I'm sure that with patience the app will live up to its full potential.

On my first test run yesterday I discovered a few problems that Nike does not tell you about. The first being that if you don't lock the app and then lock the phone the app will not track how far you have run but only the time you have spent on it.  This was frustrating when I opened the phone mid run to discover that I had only run about 0.02 miles according to the app when in reality it was closer to 1 mile.

Then I ran into a small issue at the end of this run. I could not figure out in the app how to end the run. I spent some time online, on the Nike+ website they tell you that when you pause the run then an end run icon will appear. I also thought that like most of the other running apps I have tried when you slide the lock at the bottom this pauses the run, but it turns out that this function only locks the screen. What you have to do is tap the "pause run" area at the bottom of the screen then the lock icon turns into an end icon.  This was very difficult to figure out.

Today I tested the app yet again this time making sure that I did not turn off the screen for the full run. The app was very helpful letting me know when I reached a mile, but the voice is very electronic sounding and choppy. At least they made the music turn down before he started speaking.  When I got home I got on the computer to compare the Nike+ distance with that on the map and found that they were off by a little so I adjusted the distance accordingly. I hope that with time the app will learn the distances I'm still trying to figure out what calibrating the app will do.

So far I am very impressed with the Nike+ website and look forward to using it more. I can see what people mean when they say that it motivates them, just have the Nike+ icon on my phones home screen gave me a little extra push to get out there and run this morning. I made it to just about 2.5 miles in half and hour. Getting better just have to find a good time to get out there that is not so hot.

Update 7.9.2012:
I have been in touch with Nike+ Support working out an issue that they have been having with maps on the Android apps. It appears that when you begin an outdoor run with GPS running the map loads but after a few seconds the map goes blank. They are working out a solution to this problem.  Additionally I learned the hard way that this app does not play well with others. I was a on fairly long run, and saw the most beautiful sunset so I stop to take a picture. Well a few minutes later the app crashed.  This turned my 4 mile run into a 1 mile walk home.  Learned my lesson stay on task!

Selling Pictures Online

A few weeks ago I joined the website 500px, originally I joined just to share pictures and maybe sell one here and there.  Not long after joining it dawned on me that 500px has really high prices and very few options for buying prints. Who wants to be limited to just a HD download or a single size framed print? So I went on a hunt for a better place to sell my photos.  Last night I tried out Zazzle.com, their prices were reasonable, but setting up the store there just proved to be too confusing so I had to scratch that idea.

This morning I took a look at Redbubble.com and so far their site looks promising. I will be uploading my pictures from 500px here. That doesn't mean I'm going to shut down my 500px, the community of professional photographers there is amazing and they push me to do better in my photography.  I look forward to continue to get their input and support for my photographs.

If any one has suggestions for a good place to sell quality pictures online I am all ears.

Your life is an Occasion

In my political advertising class yesterday we saw a YouTube clip made by Greenpeace.  This had to be one of the most motivating videos ever. After watching it all I could think was "Wow! I want to join them!"  Every once in a while I sit and try to figure out just what it is exactly that I want to do with my life.  When I'm really down I watch movies like "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" or "Stick It". Now it may sound a little childish to watch Mr. Magorium but I highly recommend it. This movie is full of motivation to do what ever you think your mission in life is and to never let it go, even if its the most ridiculous thing in the world.

The most important thing to remember is that you are important and that you can do anything. For an espresso shot just watch this video, and if you need more check out the movies.

Welcome to College

I am taking a radio class, and last week we were meant to have our final in class; but the teacher was not able to make it to class so she cancelled and rescheduled for this week.  The on Wednesday a group of students got together on Facebook and tried to get the whole class to reschedule for the following Thursday morning.  Because apparently a bunch of students are traveling this week and will not be able to make it to class on Monday night.

My thought when I first saw this was "who travels the week before exams?"  Well their attempts did not work.  We have the final tonight and who ever is not in the class will have a supplemental assignment that they will have to turn in otherwise they will fail the class. Right now I love this teacher, she is teaching them that you can't get what you want, rules are rules.  Its a little surprising that they are in their 20s and only now learning that just because something doesn't work for you doesn't mean it has to be changed.

I can see why they would hate this teacher, but for me I like her. Its like being back in high school with Miss O. You come to class you do the work, you are on time for everything and you will have no problem. There are no excuses. In TV studio the teacher says that he "helps those who help themselves" you can't just live your life expecting things to just happen for you. If you want this then you are going to have to own up and take it, show up, do the work, and you will be rewarded. There are no freebies in this life.

Kitchen Update

For those of you who have been following the situation in my kitchen on Facebook, there have not been any photo updates recently due to the sudden halt in work.  Last week the plumbers came ripped up the floor, moved my washing machine all over the apartment and then on Thursday morning a guy came to count how many tiles we will be needing to fix the floor.  No surprise he left without a word as to when he will be coming back.  I am hoping that he will come tomorrow and fix the floor up because I am getting to the point where I have to wash my clothes in the sink due to the fact that I don't have a washing machine hooked up and the laundry mat is kind of far away.

I have taken a break from running since this began only because I can't spare the clothes. But I really could use a run, I was thinking about it today, but it was really hot out there today and its so humid that even stepping out the door makes me feel like I need a shower and to wash my clothes. Hoping and praying that this will all be over this week. But doubt it, after all this is Israel so what can I expect.

Update: Last week I spent as little time in the apartment as possible and went down to Be'er Sheva for the weekend. When I returned on Sunday evening I was surprised to discover that all the cabinets had been put back in their original locations!  Then on Monday I had an exam in the morning and when I came home the University had sent over a cleaning lady to wash the floor and make sure everything was in order. I am just so glad that this whole ordeal is finally over.

21st Century

There is something that I really don't understand. In today's world most people have some sort of smartphone, be it an iPhone, Android or Blackberry. We are wired 24/7 with email, SMS, phone calls you name it. But what I can't understand is how when someone is so wired; I mean sending BBMs and texts all day and constantly answering the phone and checking their Facebook, can simply not answer important emails.

Perhaps it is because these people don't want to take responsibility and if you ignore all the emails and phone calls then the problem doesn't exist?  I recently wrote about the leak in my kitchen and about how my roommates are never around. Well there was one night that the landlord was coming over and I was not going to be home. I had been planning to meet with a friend for weeks and the night he was coming over was the night that I was going out.  I live in student housing so I told the housing office of my school that I was not going to be in the apartment that night and left the phone numbers of my roommates. About 3 hours later I received an email from housing saying they had called and left messages on BOTH of my roommates phones.  They now had emails and phone calls, but still no response.

It has been the same with getting money for bills. All year I have been paying our monthly bills and the day that I do I send out texts to both roommates that they owe me X amount.  Usually I get a text response that just says "great!" But I have never had one say "I'll pay you back tomorrow!"  This has been going on all year. I chase these girls for weeks before I see a penny.  One would think that because I live with them this would be easier.  This is not true, they never come home, so I never really see them and when I do see them around campus they are always saying "I owe you a lot of money." Thank you for letting me know, I had no idea!

Maybe it is just a issue of parents raising their kids. When children are raised to be 100% reliant on their parents then they are never able to deal with things on their own.  But I don't know how I came out any different, my parents always took care of everything for me. Perhaps I just grew up when I left home.

Can I Rest Now?

Today was a very long day, thankfully there was never a quiet moment though. This morning I woke up in Be'er Sheva, around 8:30 am.  Spent the morning getting myself ready for school (class starts a 2 pm this is important).  The goal for the morning was to order all my school readings, finals are coming up so I guess its about time that I start actually reading my assignment for class... Anyway when the readings were all ordered (there were close to 300 pages, oh my!) it was close to 11 and I was hungry, so my boyfriend and I got together for lunch and a little before 12 we heard that my readings for class were printed and ready to be picked up.

On the way to the bus we stopped at the University to pick up my newly printed readings. There we ran into a few people but couldn't stop to talk because I had a bus to catch. It was now almost 12:30. We rounded the corner to the bus stop and low and behold there were 3 buses there. The first two we could see were not mine but the third was hidden behind one of the other buses. My boyfriend ran to see what the number of the third bus was, but by the time he reached the stop it was pulling away. As it pulled away I saw the familiar number 380... the Be'er Sheva - Tel Aviv bus line.  Knowing that my 2pm class did not take attendance I figured there was no harm in waiting for the next bus (I didn't really have a choice at this point).

What I did not realize was that the next bus wasn't going to be until 1:30 pm. Now after my 2pm class I have an other class at 4pm; this class does take attendance so it was imperative that I make it to this next class on time.  So I sat down to wait for the next bus, having close to an hour to kill I started reading. A little after 1:30 the bus pulls up, I get on have a seat, all is well in the world. Well not quite all, I was sitting next to this girl who was on the phone for the entire hour and a half ride, its one thing when someone is on the phone with one person the whole ride but she was calling people whole time.  Have a distraction there, I only got through one chapter of reading.

But I made it to Tel Aviv with an hour to spare before class. It is now 3 o'clock in the afternoon.  My bus pass only had 5 shekel on it which is not enough for anything in the Tel Aviv area and especially when I need 10.40 to go to Herzliya so I couldn't take my regular bus because they don't let me load my card. I chose to take a bus that goes to Ra'anana and figured I would just take a bus from there that goes straight to school.  Mistake! I got on the 149 to Tzomet Ra'anana (Ra'anana Junction) which should have been faster than my regular route because it takes the high way and has way less stops on the way.  To my luck there was traffic out there at Morasha Interchange, so it took longer to get to Ra'anana.

When I finally got off the bus at 3:40 pm I was still a little hopeful but beginning to lose hope. I was crossing the street when I noticed a 39 sitting at the light, knowing its route I knew it stopped semi close to school and since it was here it would be my best bet. But the light changed and I didn't move fast enough, I was too far away from the bus stop when he pulled away.  I waited almost 10 minutes for the next bus.  The next 30 minutes were the longest ever. I texted a friend asking her to sign me into class (something I have NEVER done before but I knew that I was going to come after the attendance sheet had gone around) but she replied with "he's reading names."  After seeing this text I got off at the next stop and ran to school.  I don't remember it ever taking so long to get to school before.  I was hot, sweaty, tried and thirsty when I got to class but I was there a little after 4:30 pm.

After class I went to the teacher to tell him that I was in class but had missed attendance and he said that I should email him about it.  So I did. I only hope that I can still take the exam because this just might have been my third absence if he doesn't give me credit for being in class.  I think the most frustrating part of the whole thing is, is that it took me nearly 3 hours to do a ride that usually takes me around 2 hours.  And even that usually when I come to this class I'm a half hour early and the only one there when he comes in. Surely that should count for something.

Google Adsense Woes

There seems to be a trend, everywhere I turn there are bloggers writing about being banned from Google's Adsense. I'm not going to complain about my account being banned, because I wasn't making money on my blog, for me it was more a test to see if there was a chance to earn anything from my blog.  I had not clicked on any of my ads or told anyone to click them (at least not to my knowledge no one has) but one day I just received an email from Google informing me that my account had been suspended.

This was over 4 months ago, and I have been trying out different forms of advertising since. There are a few things that since losing my Adsense have started to bother me about bloging here on Google.  For starters I fell in love with the dynamic views. The magazine layout made my blog look and feel amazing, but then I discovered that they don't allow you to own the Adsense space on the page or allow widgets of any kind.  So I decided to change my blog layout. Which I think was not the best idea because I went from 20 - 30 views a day down to 10 views in the last week or so.

I think I have found a layout and am going to stick with it. Would have been nice if a reader would have commented on the change then I would have put it back.  But any way I have been testing out different alternatives to Adsense and have yet to find a sufficient alternative.  I have tried Chitka but they disapproved because I do not get enough traffic for them. I tried Clicksor but they had annoying banner ads and pop-ups and in text ads... it was just too much everywhere. A few days ago I applied for blogads but have not heard back from them but seeing as my monthly impressions is just over 400 views this might be too low a number for their taste.

The biggest issue that I have run into with all these sites is that my site is not being approved, but I hope that eventually I will find something that I will like and it will like my site as well.  I am truly sorry to all my readers who may have been in convinced from all the changes that have been going on and I should have updated you as soon as I started to play with things here. Once I have my Adsense alternative in place things should become more or less stable and stop moving around.

Social Networking at Work

As a student of media I have never tried any experiments with how social networks can work for me. But luckily for me an experiment happened when I was not looking. It all started with a single tweet on twitter.

just joined @500px so much beautiful photography I can't handle this!

 About 3 minutes after I tweeted this, I received an email from Twitter telling me that 500px had re-tweeted my  tweet. What it did not tell me was that 4 other users had re-tweeted my tweet. In the following few days I gained 7 followers. This may not seem like a lot, but going from nothing to something that quickly is where it all begins.

The biggest problem that we all have these days is that we expect things to be automatic. We want to be celebrities over night, to be millionaires without trying. In these vain efforts we forget that, life doesn't work that way. You just have to take a minute and appreciate all the small steps that you have taken to move forward. Yes it may take a life time to become somebody or you never know it could take 10 minutes but who are we to know where it is all going? And because of this I am great full for my 5 re-tweets and 7 follower, yes it would be nice if they were 500 re-tweets or 700 followers, but goals have to be small.  You can't conquer the world in a day.

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. - Thomas A. Edison

It'll come to you. I had a few high school teachers that had some great things to say. One would always tell us to "Keep on keepin' on" and another would say "if as first you don't suck seed. Keep on sucking till you do suck seed."

I know the second is more of a play on words, but I feel that today more than ever society needs this advice. Everyone is so set on their over-night sensation agenda that we are forgetting the purpose.  What are you doing it for?  Who are you doing it for?  Why do you want it? If the answer is just for people to know who you are, then I think you missed the boat.

Water

I currently live with two roommates. Neither of them are ever around and last week I got a surprise visit from the land lord.  He said that he hopes its not a big deal and that he's going to send in a plumber to look at it. The next day a plumber comes to check things out. He can't figure out what is wrong and doesn't want to rip up the floor before he knows what is wrong, so he says that over the weekend he is going to bring in someone with a camera to check the situation.

Sunday morning at about 12 I get a knock at the door. Its four guys here to check the situation with the water. After 20 minutes of fiddling with the water on and off and shooting some pictures of the floor, I hear banging and then a saw... they cut up the floor in the kitchen.  But the problem is they can't find where the leak is coming from.  So I'm really hoping that this will be a quick fix once they figure out what the problem is and that they will not leave the apartment a mess, because I still need a shower and to brush my teeth.

At this point my biggest fear is that they will rip up the bathroom wall since there appears to be a leak in the wall and that they will leave the shower and toilet alone. But in this country you never know because they don't even know what they are looking for. It is just a lot of guys yelling at each other about where they think the pipes go. Why do these buildings have to be made of concrete? If they were plaster there is not big problem with cutting a hole and patching.

Running

I have been reading a lot about starting to run. I walk. Like a lot. I walk everywhere that I can. Its not that I'm cheap and don't want to take the bus, I just like the fresh air and the space and I also like that its green.  But for  the past few years I've been telling myself that I should take up running.  In recent weeks I took to reading running blogs like Loving the Run and one of her posts inspired me.

So last night I stopped reading. I laced up my running shoes that have been hiding in the back of my closet and set out on a mission. At first it started as just run to the park.  But I got to the park and was feeling good being out there and finally doing it. Suddenly I understood why all these runners do it.  It just feels good, all the stress of the day just disappears and suddenly everything just feels like its going to be okay.

I kept going, alternating between running and walking, until I got to the end of the road and turned around to head back home.  I installed Runstar on my phone to track my run, and was very surprised when I checked it upon entering my apartment. I thought I had been out there for hours running and didn't feel that I had gone very far. Turns out on the first run I had gone just under 3 miles in 50 minutes.  Now I know that it is not a lot, but it gives me a very good starting point. I want to focus here maybe running this route a few times until I feel that I can keep going.

I may have to say good bye to my Wii boxing, I might have just found a new therapy.

Cover for me

I feel that there is a limit to how much a friend can do for you. I mean if they are your BFF then that's different. But there is no way that everyone is your BFF.  In classes I have noticed that students have been covering for each other constantly.  For example yesterday we had a 30 minute break between classes and the first class ran over time so when I got to class (early mind you) there were only a few students there and the teacher asked where everyone was. This one girl got up and said "the other class ran late so we had a shorter break than normal."  Umm... how do you know this? and if it was late then what are you doing here? I don't think that you have to cover for everyone else. You are in class on time, get your credit and let them deal with it when they get to class, its not your problem.

Its the same with absences. I feel that the answer to the question "is X here?" should be and only be "Yes/No" there is no, "they are on their way", or "they're sick" or "they're on Mars." The question is here so the answer is a simple here or not here. Where they are on the planet is not important, that is a matter that THEY have to deal with not you. If they have a legit reason for being late they will talk to the lecturer when they get here or after class.  Your job is to look out for number one. I don't want to sound like I'm self-centered by writing this, but its starting to get on my nerves.

Oh best yet has been students who don't come to class and attendance is taken on the honor system, a teacher passes out the list and you have to check of sign your name.  I know that you want to be a good friend and all but its not your problem to sign someone else in. The rules have no meaning if no one follows them.  I have a great respect for teachers that actually check the attendance and like a few weeks ago found that some signatures were signed in the same handwriting and thus counted all the names written in this hand to be absent from class. We are not in elementary school, do we really have to take roll in every class aloud? Come on man up and be an adult.