(The MWF Read is a series of blog posts written on posts that have been found throughout the Entrecard blogosphere. If you’re interested in having your own post listed here, send me a link to that post THROUGH ENTRECARD. You can do so by clicking on the “E” on the Entrecard widget to your right. Why MWF? As you’re reading, make sure that if you like the sites you see, that you share them with friends, subscribe to them, etc. There’s never anything wrong with giving good content extra traffic.)

• Google. The Good and the Bad - The Review Jerk - Great post about Google and some of the uses you can get out of it.
• Vegetarian Chickpea Burgers - The Cheap Gourmet - I don’t know what it is, but some things sound much more appetizing than they did before I started dieting. Chickpea burgers? Me? Never. At least not until now. Check out the recipe. It’s great!
• Spring Time in the Desert - NicoleB Photography - I love the name for obvious reasons. But seriously, these photographs are of simple objects, but they are beautiful.
• If Jack Handey Twittered - Jason Boom - You know I can’t do a MWF Read without some humor. Laughter is good for the soul. And it’s been recently pointed out to me that laughter is also good for weight loss. Only a few calories at a time, but hey, it adds up.
• Rolling over - Fighting with Writing - Cute picture. Great blog. Great dad. Makes me smile.

Posted by Saphrym | 3 Comments »

So, here’s the promised update on the contest. I’ll list all of the valid entries. The winner will be announced on Monday, March 3, 2008. Why? Because I want to pay them the moment I announce it, and I have to wait for the cash to go from my bank account to PayPal. Look for a very special post on Monday. I’m planning on having some fun with this. After all, I’ve gotta make the $250 worth it.

So without further ado, here are the valid entries to the contest (in no particular order) listed by their blog addresses:

1. bloggin-ads.com
2. www.aimsgraz.org
3. cyberstreetreport.com
4. dulcenegosyante.blogspot.com
5. blogodise.blogspot.com
6. walkertalk.blogspot.com
7. web.mac.com/ferdcrotte/Crazy_Medical_Cases/blog
8. www.johnisfit.com
9. astrangelife.typepad.com
10. www.ladydelaluna.com
11. pixtoo65.blogspot.com
12. mumsgotta.com
13. evilwoobie.com
14. c5says.com
15. www.blogzenith.com
16. www.yimto.com
17. www.submityourcontest.com
18. www.7milesdown.com
19. bendzgerona.blogspot.com
20. doorlight.ihousha.net
21. chica-x.blogspot.com
22. renderingsilence.blogspot.com
23. 1littlething.com
24. downonourluck.com
25. somebodyunfamous.blogspot.com
26. soul-to-soul.com
27. bunnymoney9.blogspot.com
28. giveawaycity.blogspot.com
29. iveentered.blogspot.com
30. impnerd.com
31. entrepreneur.com.sg
32. www.indocontest.com
33. ahkong.net
34. mi11ion.blogspot.com
35. justanotherbloggery.blogspot.com
36. www.oblife.com
37. blogincomeproject.blogspot.com

And there you have it. The list of entries. Good luck to all of you.

(UPDATE: Added a post I had missed. Sorry if it freaks you guys out again if the pingback happens again.)

(UPDATE AGAIN: The winner was announced.)

Posted by Saphrym | 22 Comments »

I know. I know. You want to know who won the contest. I’ll be posting about it tomorrow and I’m trying to prepare a fun way of announcing the winner. But today was my daughter’s birthday and since we had a snow day here, I’ve been hanging with her most of the day. Make sure to go tell her Happy Birthday over at her blog:

Happy Birthday Nicole!

She does read the comments and loves them all.

Posted by Saphrym | 5 Comments »

“When I was walking the other day I found out I could chew gum at the same time!”
And you know what? You can too!

The lawyers make me say this: Your own success is guaranteed only by the way in which you utilize this product. If you don’t use it properly, I claim no responsibility. Sorry. That’s just the way it is. Now on to the good stuff:

Hi. My name is Michael White. Let me ask you some questions:

Do you ever feel you are the butt of a joke?
Do you ever wonder how come you’re just standing there with your keys in your hand for hours on end?
Do you get stumped by simple questions like these?
Have you ever spent money on something that was truly worthless?
Have you fallen for a simple scam?

No matter how young or old you may be, I have found the perfect solution to all of your problems! That’s right! I said it! The perfect solution!

Thinking from the first day!

My product is so powerful, it’ll have you thinking from the moment you purchase it. You’ll never know how you got along without it! See, one day it just came to me. “What is it that people I’ve met in my daily life are missing? What is it that they yearn for day and night?” So I got out a pen and a sheet of paper and made a quick sketch. I’m not going to show you that sketch because I’m not much of an artist. It was a sketch of a “puppy cat” anyway and I was on the wrong track. After that sketch I started writing on the same sheet of paper. Mostly scribbles. But then it really came to me! I knew exactly what people were missing. Before going any further, here are some testimonials. I didn’t pay these people anything. I swear:

Michael’s product has been heaven sent. I just don’t understand why I never thought of this before. What he’s charging is a drop in the bucket of what it is worth! - Brianna Trackle, Dayton, OH

Oh my goodness! Where do I start with such a wonderful product? I just can’t get over the fact that he even came up with this product! I only wish he would have sold it sooner. So many things would be different in my life. - Brianna Trackle, Dayton, OH

Michael. Why do you keep asking me about your product over and over? - Brianna Trackle, Dayton, OH

Ok, so now that I know I have you hooked into buying my product, I guess it’s time to tell you what it is:

My product is called a “Big Round Articulated INterlobe” or B.R.A.IN for short. With this B.R.A.IN, you’ll be able to do things you’ve never thought possible. Here are some of the features:

• Being able to make educated decisions.
• Being able to think for yourself.
• Being able to notice when someone is pulling your leg in all manners of speech.
• Being able to put letters together in such a manner that actual words are formed.

Not only can it do those things, but if you act within the next 24 hours I’ll throw in the following two (2) products that work well with the B.R.A.IN:

1. COMa MONster SENt SEarching, or COM.MON.SEN.SE for short: This beast will find just about any misplaced thought and put it back where it belongs for you.
2. WIShful DOMinion, or WIS.DOM for short: This is a small place out on the ocean where you can use your new B.R.A.IN to find the true meaning of the universe, or at least know how to not upset your in-laws.

So act now and receive your B.R.A.IN, COM.MON.SEN.SE, and WIS.DOM for the very low price of a nickel-ninety-five. You’ll be happy you did.

Posted by Saphrym | 20 Comments »

(The MWF Read is a series of blog posts written on posts that have been found throughout the Entrecard blogosphere. If you’re interested in having your own post listed here, send me a link to that post THROUGH ENTRECARD. You can do so by clicking on the “E” on the Entrecard widget to your right. Why MWF? As you’re reading, make sure that if you like the sites you see, that you share them with friends, subscribe to them, etc. There’s never anything wrong with giving good content extra traffic.)

Following are images I created to parody well known sites listed at Entrecard. I’m a huge fan of all of these sites and plan to do more parodies in the future. This is why this is a “first edition” post. Make sure to click on the images and go to these blogs. You’ll probably want to add them to your RSS feeds just like I did.

There you have it. Enjoy the blogs and hopefully these parodies got a chuckle out of you.

Posted by Saphrym | 7 Comments »

Saphrym.com was born as a place for me to write. After joining Entrecard at about the same time I started focusing on my diet, it became known as a dieter blog. As some people have asked, what happens after I lose the weight? What will I blog about then? Well, recently I’ve been doing a few opinionated articles but I miss doing some of the other writing I used to do. So I’m making some changes to get this blog back to what I originally wanted it to be about.

1. I’ve been given the “ok” by my doctor to stop weighing myself and taking my blood sugar every day. This makes me happy because it lets me know that she is quite happy with my progress much like I am. So from this point on I will be doing only one dieting post a week. It will be on Saturdays. I’ll post my current weight, percentages, and blood sugar for each Saturday. I’ll still be tracking my food every day, however, since I normally eat basically the same thing most days, I’ll point out any differences that I’ve done throughout the week on Saturdays. I’ll also post all recipes I feel you’d like to know on Saturdays also. So after this post, I’m going to put a post called “My Regular Diet” and link it from the “Weight Loss News” section on the main front page. Anything that deviates from that will be mentioned on the Saturday posts.

2. The MWF Read feature will continue as is. I like doing those posts and I know that people like reading them. So no change there.

3. So, if the MWF posts will be the same and the dieting post will be saved for Saturday, what about Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday? Good question. My answer is this: I will pick a category that my blog was originally about and write about it. If you click on the “category” link on the right hand side you’ll notice that I’ve written about many different topics but the “dieter” category has the most posts. I want that to change. I want to write more about being a father, husband, teacher, thinker, and writer (reader is taken by the MWF posts). I want to write more satires and parodies. I want to rant again. I want to write about some of the games I love to play. So that is what I’ll be doing. And since I don’t have to focus so much on the dieting, this will allow me to spend more time on writing good posts that I hope you all will enjoy.

4. Doing all of this will allow me to also focus a little more on a few other projects I have in the works. I will let you know about them soon. I’m quite excited about them and hope that you guys will be too.

5. What about your contests? I’m done with those for now. I will still give away stuff to loyal readers and bloggers, but I don’t want my site to be run by contests. There are many great blogs out there that focus on contests and do the job really well. I will have an update for the $250 contest on the 27th, when it is over. I’ll make a post that lists all of the valid entries for the contest and also tell you the way I will handle the random draw. I think you will find it quite fair.

6. I made the site iPhone friendly. Since I bought one and found out to do so, I figured why not. That image is the one that gets used for the cool little icon on the phone if added as a home page button. If you have an iPhone, try coming here on it.

What do you guys think about these changes? Am I destroying what I’ve made? Or are you excited to see what I can do besides dieting posts? Let me know in the comments. I love constructive feedback.

Oh, and for those of you who were interested, Nicole’s birthday party was yesterday and she had a great time. She was quite happy which makes me happy. Oh, and I ate cake and ice cream but didn’t gain any weight. You’ll have to wait for the new weight on Saturday though.

Posted by Saphrym | 16 Comments »

Following is the diet that I follow on a normal day. If I break this diet, I’ll let you know about it on Saturdays:

Daily Diet

Fluids:
Water (16 oz - 5 times a day)
(Sometimes I drink Diet Rite Zero colas for flavor. They have no carbs, no calories, and specifically, no sodium. My favorite is White Grape.)
Exercise:
20 Curls of 85+ pounds. (This is how I tuck my daughter in. She loves it and my arm muscles are getting stronger.)
Current day from my exercise plan.
Meal 1 (below 60 carbs):
Oatmeal
Multivitamin
B150 Vitamin Complex
Snack 1 (below 45 carbs):
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 2 (below 60 carbs):
Whatever is planned for dinner. If I feel the recipe is good enough or not a packaged meal, I’ll make a post including that recipe on Saturdays.
Snack 2 (below 45 carbs):
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 3 (below 60 carbs):
2 Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Chips

Posted by Saphrym | 18 Comments »

(The MWF Read is a series of blog posts written on posts that have been found throughout the Entrecard blogosphere. If you’re interested in having your own post listed here, send me a link to that post THROUGH ENTRECARD. You can do so by clicking on the “E” on the Entrecard widget to your right. Why MWF? As you’re reading, make sure that if you like the sites you see, that you share them with friends, subscribe to them, etc. There’s never anything wrong with giving good content extra traffic.)

Uber Story 1: Ryan Meets Victor is a purple lime from the planet of Truth that should be called upon for luck. Seriously, everyone should free their squirrels when they have books in their shoulder sacks. What do you mean you don’t write love stories on the moon? I can’t believe you’d drink that that. And that is it. Praise be to Wiffle Ball and Thanks be to No Pie!

DIET DIARY

Numbers from Today

Blood Sugar: 77
Weight: 283.8
Fat Percentage: 48.4
Water Percentage: 30.1
Muscle Percentage: 34.7

Food and Exercise from Yesterday

Fluids: Water (16 oz - 5 times a day)
Exercise:
20 Curls of 85 pounds.
Thursday from my exercise plan.
Meal 1:
Oatmeal
Multivitamin
B150 Vitamin Complex
Snack 1:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 2:
Chicken Nuggets
Tater Tots
Snack 2:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 3:
2 Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Chips

(For more information about my dieting and weight loss, click here. For more information about the specific foods I eat, click here.)

Posted by Saphrym | 1 Comment »

Blame Evil Woobie. She asked my opinion on bra burning in the comments on this post.

I’m going to start with a quick way of saying my beliefs on feminism: My daughter wanted to play flag football. My wife and I let her. Her team was undefeated.

Now for the long version:

I believe in a woman’s rights. I believe that a woman can burn her bra¹, be a wrestler, play football, etc. I’ve had this conversation in college before and some women tried to argue with me² that women can’t do everything men can do. They would tell me “Well, I can’t fix a car. I can’t lift tons of weight. I’m weaker than a man. I’m… I’m… I’m…” The problem with that argument is the “I’m.” Sure, some women can’t do what some men can do. Heck, some men can’t do what some men can do. Some women can’t do what some women can do. Everyone is different. However, as a group, I believe that women have in their capabilities everything men do.

There are women who can lift hundreds of pounds. There are women who can play football, soccer, basketball, etc. better than most men and sometimes better than the men who are known for the sport. There are women who are better drivers, mechanics, doctors, etc.

Again, and this is my own opinion and not just “I’m saying what I think you want to hear”, as a group, women³ are equal to men and should have all of the rights that come with that equality.

So, does that answer your question Woobie?

DIET DIARY

Numbers from Today

(Substituted today so my schedule was out of whack. The numbers would have been taken about 8 hours earlier than normal and therefore would not be accurate.)

Food and Exercise from Yesterday

Fluids: Water (16 oz - 5 times a day)
Exercise:
20 Curls of 85 pounds.
Wednesday from my exercise plan.
300 crunches extra
Meal 1:
2 Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Chips
Multivitamin
B150 Vitamin Complex
Snack 1:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 2:
Campbell’s Turkey Pot Pie Soup (400 calories)
Snack 2:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 3:
Oatmeal

(For more information about my dieting and weight loss, click here. For more information about the specific foods I eat, click here.)

1. and the male in me would… nevermind [«]
2. I thought it was funny that women were arguing this [«]
3. When I say equal, I don’t mean biologically. I mean in terms of skills. [«]

Posted by Saphrym | 12 Comments »

(The MWF Read is a series of blog posts written on posts that have been found throughout the Entrecard blogosphere. If you’re interested in having your own post listed here, send me a link to that post THROUGH ENTRECARD. You can do so by clicking on the “E” on the Entrecard widget to your right. Why MWF? As you’re reading, make sure that if you like the sites you see, that you share them with friends, subscribe to them, etc. There’s never anything wrong with giving good content extra traffic.)

(Yes. A day late. Sorry. Internet issues with snow storms around.)

• Singapore’s Social Entrepreneur Diana Saw in Cambodia - Singapore Entrepreneur - Very cool social enterprise going on. Go read about it.
• Homeland Security Keyloggers Found in Dell PCs - Hack n Mod - Is this for real?! You guys will have to research it and let me know.
• Mother-in-Law Stupidity - Bitch-o-losophy - The title got me hooked. The post made me laugh. I wish I would have had that kind of prenuptial agreement.
• What would I do without you? - Virtual Wordsmith - I find this to be a very cool ode to an online community. I love the rest of the blog too. A must read.
• What does my dream mean? - Five Blondes - I love the Five Blondes website. Not because they’re blondes. My preference is brunettes. But because the site has quite a few funny moments and is really interesting to read at times. This post was basically a random post pulled form the many I’ve enjoyed reading.

DIET DIARY

Numbers from Today

Blood Sugar: 94
Weight: 284
Fat Percentage: 48.3
Water Percentage: 30.0
Muscle Percentage: 34.7

Food and Exercise from Yesterday

Fluids: Water (16 oz - 5 times a day)
Exercise:
20 Curls of 85 pounds.
Tuesday from my exercise plan. (only 30 mins cardio though)
Meal 1:
Oatmeal
Multivitamin
B150 Vitamin Complex
Snack 1:
Chocolate
Meal 2:
Tuna Sandwich
A few pieces of Fried Macaroni and Cheese.
Snack 2:
Pomegranate and Blueberry Smoothie
Meal 3:
2 Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Chips

(For more information about my dieting and weight loss, click here. For more information about the specific foods I eat, click here.)

Posted by Saphrym | 2 Comments »