i don't like hamburgers
If you would have told me years ago that there would come a point in my life where I didn't like hamburgers anymore, I'd have called you insane.
Well, here we are.
The hamburger is, as far as I'm aware, an American invention. When I was little, I ate many hamburgers, mostly from fast food places. During summer, dad would fry up or grill hamburgers. I enjoyed them both.
It's probably true that for many years, not a month went by where I didn't eat at least 5 hamburgers at bare minimum. And I might be completely wrong there, because maybe it was a minimum 10? I don't remember. What I do remember is that I ate a lot of them, especially during the '90s when fast food was still truly cheap for the most part.
I'm over 50 now, and my diet is vastly different compared to what I used to eat. For the better, of course. Lots of greens, yogurt, water, no soda, and so on.
However, if I'm going out to eat and it's decided the meal is going to be some fast food slop, the last thing I would order is a hamburger. And it all has to do with thinking ahead. When I think about what a hamburger is, how it tastes and how it will feel after I eat the thing, I want absolutely nothing to do with it.
What do I get instead for fast food slop? Chicken. Specifically, chicken fingers because I don't want bread. All I want is the chicken, maybe a dipping sauce, maybe some fries, water or a zero-calorie drink, and nothing else. For fast slop, that's acceptable.
What's the problem with hamburgers?
That's an easy answer. Unseasoned, bland and digests terribly.
Let's skip the digestion part and just concentrate on the meat itself.
A genuinely good burger has meat that's been seasoned before frying, even if it's a simple mix of salt, pepper and paprika.
Absolutely nobody does this.
Ultimately, what you're tasting with a burger is the bread, sauces if present, cheese if present, and whatever is on top of the burger.
What does the burger alone taste like? Nothing. A slightly moist, chewy, tasteless nothing.
Chicken places, on the other hand, will either marinate and/or season the meat before frying. It is AUTOMATICALLY better for taste right out of the gate for that reason alone.
I rarely eat fast filth, but when I do, chicken is my go-to. I will always take chicken over a burger or even pizza.
I apply the same thinking when eating at a traditional restaurant. I look over the menu, and if everything sucks, I'll order whatever chicken offering they have and go with that as a safe option.
Since it's difficult for a restaurant to screw up chicken, that's why I consider it safe to go with.
red line casio g-shock dw6900rl is just cool
Casio has their hits and misses with G-SHOCK watches. Generally speaking, I like them, but many don't do much for me as to how they look.
This one, however, really nails it.
Take a look at a Casio G-SHOCK DW6900RL-1 "Original Colors". And I'm assuming RL means Red Line, because seriously, what else could it possibly mean?
I have never owned the classic DW6900, but this one might win me over and I may get this for myself.
Is there anything new and fancy about this DW6900? No. It's the same old school tough watch that Casio has kept in production for years, which is exactly the way I like it. Casio takes risks sometimes, but they also know when not to ruin a good thing.
The change of the G-SHOCK text at top from red to white and the addition of the red border line may be subtle, but wow does it work well. That thin red line breaks up all the surrounding black very nicely. This is what a proper tough sport watch is supposed to look like. Wear it while doing yard work or swimming or on the golf course or wherever.
So I just described a total hit of a G-SHOCK, so what would I consider a miss? The Casio G-SHOCK MRGB5000R. That's a luxury G-SHOCK with a case and bezel of titanium alloy (some material called Cobarion that's claimed to be 4x harder than pure titanium). It also has a gold plated circuit board retainer, black DLC coating, and a ridiculously comfortable "Dura Soft" strap with the mold containing some titanium in it to ensure superior longevity. Yes, Casio went all out with the titanium on this G-SHOCK.
The MRGB5000 also has atomic timekeeping and can be paired to a smartphone using Bluetooth, because of course it can.
But is that super ultra G-SHOCK as cool as the red line DW6900RL? I don't think so. True, the DW6900 doesn't have materials anywhere close to the luxury level of the MRGB5000R, but strictly speaking from a style aesthetic, I just like the DW6900RL better.
It's not that the MRGB5000R looks bad, because it doesn't. As far as luxury G-SHOCK watches go, that's top tier stuff. I consider it a miss because DW6900RL just pops better.
If you can afford the MRGB5000R, get the DW6900RL also. But don't be surprised if it's the DW6900RL you wear more often.
watching wrestling from over 40 years ago
I've been watching some really old wrestling shows from the early '80s recently. One featured the wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka from a broadcast in 1983. He was 40 at the time.
1983 is pre-HULKAMANIA that didn't truly begin until '84, but what's more interesting to me is why anybody even watched this stuff to begin with.
Early '80s television really sucked. There were only two things that weren't complete trash on TV during those years. Late night television shows and sports broadcasts. That was it.
In '83, you were watching local evening news, The Tonight Show (and possibly Late Night), sports broadcasts for baseball, basketball or football, and if you had cable, wrestling.
Cable TV programming in the early '80s was even worse than what was happening on over-the-air television. The cable guys didn't have any nationwide shows that the big guys at NBC, CBS, and ABC had. They also weren't permitted to run baseball, basketball or football games either.
What they did have however was wrestling. Not a real sport, per se, but hey, good enough. So they ran it.
Wrestling shows and cable television was a perfect match. These shows were cheap to produce, cheap to broadcast, filled time and viewers back then were very willing to watch them.
It is interesting how these wrestling shows came up with storylines in this era. Yes, they did have storylines sometimes. When they did happen, it was only the absolute bare minimum required to explain why one good guy was facing the other bad guy. Maybe some dude would come on camera, shout in the microphone and say, "I heard what you said! You disrespected my family! And NOBODY does that in MY TOWN!", or something to that effect. Then another dude came on camera later and would shout in the microphone with, "Yeah! I never liked your family and I'm gonna run you outta town!" That was pretty much all it took.
Anything deeper than that would involve multiple people in a weak story. If there were two good-guy brothers and a bad guy was beating up one of them in a match and then went to hit him with a chair, the other brother would run out and save him. Something along those lines.
Aside from that, wrestling shows of this time was literally the same types of matches every week. True, the VCR existed, but it was really expensive to buy that in '83, so almost nobody had one. This being true, wrestling on TV could totally get away with repeating the same thing over and over and nobody complained. And even if people could complain, whom would they complain to? Nobody, that's who.
Again, early 1980s television did suck, so wrestling was one of the few things that was actually entertaining. Even if a particular wrestling show was boring on a particular week, it didn't matter, because it was a "sport" to watch.
Watching the stuff from 40+ years ago still holds up and I couldn't even tell you exactly why. There just seems to be a vibe with it that's a lot more... honest?
a watch with nylon strap is better for summer
The watch I currently wear, a Casio W735HB (no longer in production but you can look for one if you like), has what I consider to be the best strap material, nylon. But not just any nylon, as it has the thicker, better stuff.
During summer, PUR (polyurethane resin) straps, leather straps and metal bracelets stick when you sweat, and flimsy nylon wears out too easily.
Better nylon is far and away the best thing for a summer watch, as it does NOT stick when you sweat and breathes well. And wow, is it a tall order to find a watch with nylon strap that isn't terrible. But I found a few.
I used to own this watch. The only reason I parted with it is because it's slightly too large for my 6.5"/16.5cm wrist. I would have kept it otherwise.
SGW100B-3V has big digits, good nightlight and is easy to read. While not a G-SHOCK in terms of toughness, it's darned close to it and can definitely take a knock. This model is several levels better than a W218H (which is also great, but nowhere near as good as the SGW100B model).
This is labeled as an "avion field watch" (hence the dial style), and it's an Eco-Drive model, which means it's solar. The strap on this one is 22mm wide, and that's nice. Wide is good where nylon is concerned. Overall, a good case design, highly legible, and 100m water resistant. The khaki strap basically goes with anything, which is also a plus.
This is a smaller case at 39.4mm and also a fully automatic mechanical watch, so no battery involved with this one.
I like the pilot style dial with the hours inside the circle and the minutes on the outside before the minute track. The fact this is a day-date is also nice.
I saved the best for last, because this watch is just straight up gorgeous. This Seiko is an automatic, has great lume, ultra-good legibility, and has that "land tortoise" shape that's supremely comfortable on wrist. Nice size too, as it's a 42mm.
My favorite part other than its appearance is that the hour hand is a huge arrow. That makes an already-legible watch even more legible.
Usually I'm not a fan of blue dials, but it pairs up oh-so nicely with the strap color, so it totally works.
this is what happens when you cut sugar out of your diet
At the beginning of this year, I was eating like crap. And yes, I had put on some weight.
Last month, I cleaned up my diet big time.
At the beginning of this month, I was almost at my target BMI.
And now I am at my target BMI of 22.0. Goal achieved, and my weight is back where I want it. Part of reaching the goal that I didn't mention before was completely cutting sugar out of my diet.
Okay, not completely. Mostly. In modern times, it's basically impossible to cut out sugar from everything you eat. For example, the flavored yogurt I eat has a very small per-serving sugar amount of 3g natural, 0g added.
What I'm specifically referring to here added sugars; that is what I cut out completely.
The celebration meal
When I reached my weight goal, I celebrated with a pizza, which is something that's loaded with added sugar (it's in the sauce), salt and cheese. Months earlier, I made the decision that when I reach my goal, that's what I'm eating, and so I did.
The pizza tasted great, I ate to the point of feeling stuffed (which was stupid), but hey, I earned it, right?
After eating that pizza, I felt slightly sick for the rest of the day. To be clear, it was made correctly and cooked properly, so no problems there. But after eating, my body said, "Dude, what are you doing?"
Two days to clear it out
When you take out sugar and stay off it for a while, then consume a pile of it later, yeah, the body doesn't like that at all. I felt sick, sluggish, and also had difficulty concentrating. Not fun.
Not only did I feel sick for the rest of the day after eating the pizza, it took two days before I felt like myself again.
To be fair, I can't put 100% of the blame on the sugar, since that pizza also contained a ridiculous amount of salt. But still, a pile of added sugar was in there.
A high I don't chase anymore
What I'm about to describe is something salt does not do to me at all, but added sugar does.
Let's take a candy such as, say, a Ghirardelli square in a flavor I like (such as milk chocolate caramel). That square is under 100 Calories, pretty much tiny, and nowhere near the size of a full sized chocolate bar.
What happens when I eat that is as soon at it hits the tongue, my eyes close, and the mmmmmm... moment happens.
Some would call that savoring the moment.
I don't.
That's a high. And not the good kind.
What's happening there is that my body has to stop, "enjoy" the pleasure moment, have some momentary recovery, then I can get on with whatever after the moment has passed.
Only sugar does this to me and nothing else.
I don't literally close my eyes and pause after eating mustard, chicken, greens, yogurt or anything like that. My eyes stay open, I don't pause, get my fill and get on with things.
If added sugar is in anything I eat, I get a similar high from it.
An example of this is BBQ sauce. Just two tablespoons of most BBQ sauces piles in 13g of sugar. And who uses just two tablespoons?! If someone were to put this over their chicken, they'd use at least four tablespoon's worth and take in 26g of sugar. That's the equivalent of 12 teaspoons of sugar.
This is incidentally why I'll season chicken and not use sauce on it. The blend that McCormick Himalayan Pink Salt has is actually quite good, and a pinch or two of that is all that's needed. A good seasoning goes a long way.
Does weight loss happen faster when sugar is cut out?
Yes.
When I was getting my BMI back to 22, weight loss was slow but steady. When I cut the sugar out, oh yeah, that sped things up noticeably.
I won't say it was a night-and-day difference in weight loss speed, but still, noticeable. Progress was made, and I reached my target weight goal. Job done.