Almost Everything

LG Voyager Review

2008-08-23T16:41:00.003-05:00

Well, I upgraded to the LG Voyager (Verizon Wireless). I wanted a touch screen phone and was debating between the LG Dare and the Voyager. After playing around a bit, I felt that the Voyager was the way to go. The Dare seemed a little clunky and harder to navigate then the Voyager.

Pros: The resolution is amazing. Way better than the EnV that I previously owned. The Mobile Web browser is stunning compared to the past phones that I have used. Battery life is great! I have owned it for a week now and only charged it once. The all black design is very sleek and glossy and looks amazing. I was hesitant on the touch screen, but it actually performed better than expected!

Cons: Obviously with Verizon they want you to pay for EVERYTHING. But if you have a little computer savyness I would suggest downloading BitPim and make your own ring tones. It also can integrate with Outlook so your calendar can be right on your phone. Trying to find the right wallpaper is a little hard cause it cuts off most of it....but if you find an image that has a black or white background its great. The vibration could also be better. With the EnV I would fly out of my chair when it vibrated...now I can barley feel the vibration if im at a bar or other establishment. Those are really the only cons I have found.

So would I recommend this phone. The answer is YES!!

Pay at the Pump??? WTF

2008-07-31T08:40:00.004-05:00

This is kind of a side note, but I like to keep up on current gas and oil screwings and have just found a new one! So buyers beware. For those of you that pay at pump with your credit card, that gas station is taking $75.00 or more dollars out of your bank account for their "cushion". They say it's because they dont know how much you are going to spend so they just figure they should take anywhere from $75-$100.00 out of your account until they feel like taking clearing your payment.

This happened to me and it overdrew my checking account. After calling the bank and talking to this nice lady on the phone, she had a similar story where her son took a road trip and filled up 4 times on the way. Of course, he used pay at the pump. What did this mean for him? No vacation for him because they took over $400.00 out of his account for this so called "cushion" and all the associated overdraft fees! What a great world we live in huh?

Just thought I would spread the word. Good luck and happy gettin screwed at the pump.

Fat Burners you say!

2008-07-26T21:21:00.004-05:00

How many of you out there are like..God I want to shed these pounds, I wish there was a magic pill. Well, these are not magic pills but they can help you in your quest to get a better body (remember you have to workout in order to see any benefits;)). I will list some that are stimulants and some that aren't, because so people just cant handle the effects of stimulants. So, heeeerrree we go

Lipo 6- (stimulant) This is the most talked about fat burner at that moment and yes I have tried it. I'm not here to endorse any products, just to give my unbiased reviews of products. You will defiantly see some results with this product, but please be careful as there is a loottttt of stimulants in this product that will either leave you bouncing off the wall or have a panic attack lol. Start with the lowest dose possible, don't think your superman and take the recommended dose right away or you will regret it. I use this product to cut up for the summer and it works great. So, yes I recommend it!

Hydroxycut- (stimulant) This is pretty much just caffeine and a bunch of other stuff that really didn't do it for me. Some people have seen results on it, but it just didn't make the cut as far as I am concerned. So, no I do not recommend this product.

Caffeine/Green Tea Combo- (stimulant) When I am on a budget, this is two products that are in the most popular fat burners to date. The caffeine and Green Tea work wonders together and I highly recommend them for the budget conscience.

CLA- (non-stimulant)conjugated linoleic acid is the scientific name for it and is a non essential amino acid that helps promote weight loss and retain muscular gains. I take this product everyday and I swear by it. It is especially good to take when you are cutting down calories and want to hold onto that hard earned muscle! Highly recommended!

Chitosan- (non-stimulant) This is pretty much a glorified fiber pill and do not recommend it one bit. The people who decided to put this "carb blocker" on the market should be fired from their jobs.

Fiber- (non-stimulant)- Ok, not many people know this but taking a fiber supplement has many benefits for weight loss; including reduced hunger, stable blood sugar levels which is essential for weight loss (we dont want those nasty spikes in insulin to happen or it is excessive fats little playground). If you don't know about fiber by now, I would suggest reading up on it for its benefits! I take Benefiber daily and highly recommend it!

Well thats it for now, feel free to comment about any of my recommendations or ask any questions you want about them.

Skuld iPod Converter 1.0

2008-07-22T07:00:00.002-05:00

Want to watch your favorite videos on your iPod? I was doin some searching and have found a free converter called, Skuld iPod Converter 1.0 that may just be what we have been searching for. I have tested it out and it works like a charm! Have fun converting!

Top FireFox Add-ons

2008-07-19T20:43:00.003-05:00

So whats the best Firefox add-ons you ask? Well, I will list what I think will give you the best Firefox experience. Of course, this is a review of add-ons that are compatible with Firefox 2.0. I think 3.0 is still in its infancy stage and the lack of add-ons and themes really detours me away from using it (I do however have it installed for website testing purposes). I will make it alphabetical so its easier that way!

Autocomplete Manager- This acts like IE7 when you type something in the address bar; such as Facebook.com. All you have to type is Fac and it will more than likely know what it is. It also finds your bookmarks so you dont have to open up your bookmarks sidebar! I hated that about Firefox til' I found this.

Boost for Facebook- If your a Facebook addict, then this will be your ultimate companion. You can change the skin (appearance) so you don't have the boring default skin. It come in a handy little toolbar that shows you if you have any notifications, it automatically logs you in when you click the F icon, and my favorite is when someone posts on your wall or sends you a message it notifies you via a pop up window in the lower right hand corner. There are tons of settings that you should explore because frankly there is too many to go through in this short blog post.

BugMeNOT- Do you hate having to register for a site that you will probably never visit again. With this add on, all you have to do is right click and press "log me in with BugMeNOT and it will log you in with some random known password and username. Happy hacking!

FasterFox- Watch your computer fly when you add this. It sped up my browsing by about 10%. Excellent for power users!

ImageZoom- Can't quite see that picture your straining your eyes looking at. Zoom into it with this add-on up to 600% or more.

Mouse Gestures- With the swipe of your finger you can be moving back and forth through pages like never before. I was tired of always having to scroll up to the Back, Forward, and Refresh button. This will pretty much eliminate pressing those 3 buttons.

SnapBack- Ok, so your scrolling through a site and can't find the page that you landed on in the first place(you did land on it for a reason). That page probably had the most interesting content but got caught up in what else that site offered. With this add-on all you have to do is right click and press "save URL for Snapback". When you are done reading all the other stuff on that site just right click again and press "SnapBack" and you will be brought back to your original page. This is especially helpful when shoppin online!

So, that is my take on Firefox's greatest add-ons. If you feel there is something I left out, then dont hesitate to add to the list via a comment!

Why would you Detox...Stop!

2008-07-17T21:10:00.005-05:00

With celebrities all jumping on the detox bandwagon, so is the general public. We have all heard of these crazy diets; such as the Master Cleanse Diet, the Maple Syrup Diet, and even the Waterfall Diet. Lets get real people, these are no long term fixes for your weight issues and should only be done for maybe 1 day.

Your body is an effiecent machine. It detoxes itself everyday and if your body can't do it on its own then there is something wrong with you. These diets do more harm than good. It all sounds promising doesnt it? Clean your body of unwanted toxins, loose a few pounds, and feel energized again. This is all marketing crap.

Here is what will really happen. Your body will start breaking down muscle to use for energy leading to weight gain due to decrease metabolic activity, sounds great huh?? Not so much. Other great benefits (warning sarcasm coming) include malnutrition, nausea, headaches, fatigue, increased temper, and my favorite death. Do you really want to but your body through this?

Imagine a car running on no oil, lubricants, and gas. This in essence is what your body will be doing with no source of food in it. Even if you are having a little maple syrup for sugar. I might even go try this on my car...maybe I will get better gas mileage!!!

So please people for your bodies sake, just eat right and exercise correctly and you will succeed faster than with a 21 day starvation hype.

No Xplode Review

2008-07-15T21:15:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I picked up some "get pumped juice", better known as No Xplode by BSN. It is a nitric oxide booster that gives you superior pumps and energy...not to mention the caffeine content, which is only 100mg from what I understand. I took it today and MAN, I really felt a difference! I am writing this right after a workout cause I am still flyin high with energy. Talk about a good pump that will make you muscles feel like they are ripping out of your skin. I have taken other NO products and this is by far the best. Word to the wise though. By it online at www.supplementwarehouse.com and not GNC. The price is $70.00 at GNC and around $35.00 on the site above. Best of all, if you find a better price somewhere else, they will match it and give you 5% off on top of that. So for a super pump and unlimited energy (until I crash of course lol) I highly recommend NO Xplode from BSN.

HP DV 6000 Review

2008-07-13T15:55:00.005-05:00

So, I have had this computer for over a year now and I have to say without a doubt...it's the BEST computer I have owned. Sure, technology changes at the drop of a hat, but I would not give this laptop up (for now). I always choose HP laptops for many reasons; including their support, quality, price, and they always look stunning. I got this laptop when it was around $800.00. It can easily be found on Ebay for $400.00 now. HP really got it right with their DV series line of laptops. This one has a 15.4" screen, 3GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive that spins at 5400 RPM's, and easy access to volume and DVD controls that are lit up with brilliant blue LED lights that you can just tap to control.

Some other great features are its voice activation software that is built into the computer! I don't even have to touch my computer if I don't want to. All I have to say is "turn on" or "next page" and I'm flyin. Not to mention how easy it is to "write" papers. Just talk to it and it writes everything for you! It has in integrated webcam for all your messaging needs and much more.

Surfing the Internet is a breeze at lightning speed (using FireFox of course). So, I highly recommend this laptop for anyone that is in the market for a laptop and is unsure of which one to buy!! Two thumbs up

Exploding 3 Exercise Myth's into the ground

2008-07-09T21:15:00.007-05:00

After working with a client today I knew I had to step in and say something about exercise myths. The worst one to date happened today about water..that's right, water. My client told me that he heard on Yahoo Answers of all places that cold water causes cancer. I was shocked and was tempted to say WTF? Due to my professionalism I decided not to...yay for keeping my job! lol. The basis behind his argument was that cold water shocks your body when entering and lowers your immune system, so it is a living environment to develop cancer. WOW, is all I thought. Cold water actually increases your metabolic rate because your body has to warm that water up to 98.6 degrees...there's a little tip for ya ;) I will cover 3 or so myth's. Once I get started who knows where I will stop after writing this entry

Myth 1: Women need to train different then Men.
NO they do not! (to an extent). Women do not have enough testosterone in there bodies to get big and bulky like guys. They have estrogen and progesterone with a pinch of testosterone. So women looking to tone up..stop using your little 5 lb weights and lift some real weight and you will see you body transform before your eyes!

Myth 2: After you stop exercising your muscle will turn to blubber.
NO NO NO. Your body doesn't work that way. Fat and muscle are made up of two entirely separate compositions. *Warning science talk* Muscle is made up of fibers, which are type I and Type II, and fat is made up of adipose tissue that grows as you don't expend the calories you ate for the day. So what is happening when you are full of muscle and stop working out? You begin to lose muscle, which in turn lowers your metabolic rate and you are in a prime state for the dreaded blubber. So keep working out folks!

Myth 3: The good ole saying, "I am not sore, I must not have had a good workout"
Your body doesn't like being sore more than you do..I don't think your body wants to have a hard time shampooing your hair cause you can't bend your arms! Soreness is caused from microscopic tears in the muscle fiber and lactic acid. I have been training since I was 16 years old and havent been sore in years. Why do I keep my body looking the way it does? Hard work and dedication...Start out slow and work your way up so you don't feel sore. Soreness is inevitable when you have never worked out before, but this soreness can detour you from working out again. So, please start slow and work your way up. You will thank me if ya do!

Good luck in your weight loss goals and stay tuned for more!! I get bored at work a lot and love to help people out as much as I can

So, You Wanna Lose that Fat huh?

2008-07-08T23:21:00.002-05:00

Since I am a certified trainer and posses a degree in Exercise Science I figured my blog should mostly be about what I know...crazy right? There is an actual science that goes into losing that blubber...I didn't spend $40,000 dollars for nothing (I hope). I have a few tricks up my sleeve that may help you out, and maybe you haven't even heard of yet.

Fat is caused by excess calories that are not burned throughout the day. If those calories aren't expended, then they are stored as ugly fat. Sure, you say you don't have time to work out. Well, here is the math. If you took 1 hour out of your day to work out, that is 1.04% of your entire week. What are you doing the other 99% of the time? I will leave that up for you to decide. Here are a few tips I have came up with to speed things along. First, there is no such thing as spot reduction. Meaning you can not lose stubborn belly fat by doing crunches..are you shocked? Cardio is where you will see the most difference in losing that gut combined with resistance training.

Tip: doing cardio AFTER resistance training is the best time for your body to lose fat. Why? Because your glycogen(sugar) stores are all used up after resistance training. So, where does your body turn to for energy next? If your guess was fat, then you are correct!! Shoot for 40 minutes of cardio after your resistance training and you should be shedding that weight in no time.

Tip: Resistance training increases muscle mass. What does this mean for you? This means an increase in metabolism because muscle is more metabolically active than fat. You can burn as much as 60 calories per day/per pound of muscle. Doesn't sound like a lot huh? Well, it adds up trust me.

Tip: Eat, Eat, Eat..you've heard it before, you must eat to lose weight. Eating every 2 hours will keep the ole' furnace burning and prevents you from binging later in the day. Do not eat right after cardio however. Wait an hour afterwards or your body will start using what you just put in your body as it's fuel source instead of stored fuel(fat).

I hope these three tips help some people out and I'm sure I will be posting more about how to get the perfect body...so subscribe to me and stay tuned. Until next time fellow bloggers!

Viacom Suing Google and YouTube

2008-07-07T11:06:00.006-05:00

I can see their point on the copyright infringement of protected material. After all, that is why we have copyrights so people can express their creativeness and be protected from someone else using it. Viacom asking for the IP addresses and login information of users, now that is just down right scandalis. Viacom is knowingly invading the privacy of internet users. Do they really need to know all this information to prove that their is copyrighted material on YouTube...the answer is NO. Here Viacom, type in WWW.YouTube.com and look for yourself you morons. Any idiot can figure that out on their own and as for the judge who ordered that this information be handed over. You are exactly what is wrong with the justice system today and should be fired or have to go back to college. If you would like to write to this idiot here is his information so you express your thoughful remarks! ;)

Judge Louis L Stanton
Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl St., Room 2250
New York, NY10007

Phones
(212) 805-0252

Faxes
(212) 805-0389

Supplement Reviews from a Personal Trainer

2008-07-06T22:54:00.003-05:00

Have you wanted to get the most out of your workouts? There are a few supplements that I recommend you take that have given many people success. I will list them in order of importance! All supplements can be found on www.bodybuilding.com

Creatine- This should be the staple of your workout regimen. It increase strength, size, and recovery.

Whey Protein- This is tied with Creatine. Whey protein is rapidly absorbed and is a great breakfast, post workout, and before bed drink to rebuild broken down muscle.

L-Glutamine- This is the most abundant Amino Acid in your body. After a hard workout you need to replenish your stores for optimum recovery.

CLA- This one is a notable..although there isn't many scientific studies proving its effectiveness. CLA is used as a fat burner and muscle retainer. What does this mean? If you are on a low calorie diet it will help keep your muscle while burning body fat at the same time!

Top Downloads for your Computer

2008-07-06T12:12:00.002-05:00

I thought I would make a list of what can keep your computer safe from those nasty attackers and keep it running smooth at the same time.
1). Ccleaner- an all in one clean up your tracks and registry optimizer.
2). Ad-Aware- Keep the nasty spyware and adware away with this free program from www.lavasoft.com.
3). Spybot Search and Destroy- Protect your computer before the spyware can even be downloaded. Remember to update it every week or so!
4). Tweak Vista/Tweak VI- Optimize your Vista computer with these two free applications and watch your computer fly.
5). Auslogic Registry Defrag- You computers registry will get bogged down with incomplete registry entries after awhile. This application will keep it optimized by about 10%.
6). Nod32 Antivirus- This is the best antivirus on the market today. I have a computer business and always use this program to clean computers of nasty viruses. You can find it at www.Eset.com.

Who am I?

2008-07-05T23:12:00.001-05:00

I am a Personal Trainer at the UND Wellness Center and Facility Manager. I have been there for about 3 years. I graduated from UND with a degree in Exercise Science in 2006. I am moving soon to AZ and as crazy as it sounds, I am going to miss this frozen tundra we call Grand Forks. In 2006 I decided to start a computer repair service that has proven that people hate Best Buy with a passion....can they fix anything or are they just there as a Gimmick for Best Buy? Your call!

Here comes some Shameless promos ;) GrandForksComputerServices.com has to be the best repair business in Grand Forks haha. We do everything from the simplest install to building your PC from scratch. While starting the business I have had some great opportunities to work on some great websites; including Clubexpressbus.com, CuckoosNestEGF.com, and MariaDmytrow.com(still in the works on that one). Stop by there sites and see what they have to offer.

Gas Prices and Bush's Response (Priceless)

2008-07-05T18:11:00.000-05:00

Ok so gas prices are all fucked up. Even our own President doesn't even know what is going on. Look at Bush's face when a reporter tells him that gas prices are going to be $4.00 a gallon (priceless).

Gas prices are determined by a lot of factors, I know. Im no expert, but when 23% of gas prices are taxes that probably just go into the pockets of Exxon and Mobile's pockets..then that is messed up. Are country is going to end up looking like Mexico soon where everyone drives VW beattles from the 70's and bicycles. Maybe we can even serve dogs and cats on the side of the road in little carts. I can't wait. Third world country here we come!!

Gym Etiquette

2008-07-05T18:08:00.000-05:00

Ok, after lifting today I realized how big idiots are in this town. I workout at a few gyms in town and have never seen such laziness. Seriously people, learn how to put your fucking weights away, stay off your cellphone, leave your laptop at home and don't under any circumstances pretend that you know what the fuck you are doing and show some poor guy the same movement. Did you go to school for Personal Training? Do you actually know what muscle group your working with your "made up" exercise? Leave these people alone.

Once you dumbasses leave Grand Forks and you dont put your weights away, they wont be so nice as we are. Your ass will be launched out of the gym faster than you can say "well I ummmm". So grow up and put your shit away. I found a great article on Bodybuilding.com that may help you out! (maybe).

Credit Cards Can Kiss my ASS

2008-07-05T18:04:00.000-05:00

My thoughts on Credit Cards? WTF

What is with credit card companies these days? I remember back in the day when a low APR was easy to come by. In this greedy society, thats not how things are going down. ChaseBank is one of the worst CC companies you can ever get a CC with. I always paid on time and had been with them for over 10 years. They raised my interest rate from 9.99% to 29.99% APR in one month....that's right...one month. When I called them to complain their only response was "well, you made a big purchase on ANOTHER card so we raised your rates". My credit score was 720 (not to shabby) and that's the only reason they could come up with....so I say fuck credit cards and they really need to do something so everyone doesn't end up filing for bankruptcy.

Remembering my Dad Lt. Col Kenneth E. Jackson

2008-07-05T18:00:00.001-05:00

My dad was a huge part of my life and I will never forget him. What I have learned from losing someone that was so close to me was that you should cherish every minute you have with someone. It may be your last time you will ever see them. The last time I saw my dad was in 2000 before I went on a camping trip. The last thing I told him was "have a good weekend dad, and I'll see ya after I get back". He was sitting on the steps like he always did at night, just gazing out into the world. He said " see ya later bud, have a good time". I pulled up to my house after a long weekend only to find everyone crowded around the table at my house. My mom got up and said "Gavin, your dad died last night". I dropped to my knees and a began crying like I've never cried before. The pain was unbearable and was unable to get up. The lonelyness you feel at that point in time is something that will never go away. So this is just to say, Dad I love you and you are always with me.