Tag: Geoff

Managing ADHD Without Medication

It can be done, this whole management of ADHD and ADD without the use of medication.  If you have the precursory chemical and/or behavioral makeup for either, you have likely coped for many years with the struggle of focus, focus, focus, listen, store, recall, etc.  I am amazed at what I have been able to accomplish in my life prior to my diagnosis. 

That being said, I still think if one goes to a doctor who is a specialist in a field, and you DON’T walk out of there with a diagnosis in their field of practice, that doctor isn’t doing very well in general.  That may explain why I took my wife to  the doctor last week and now I have a pap smear in April, but anyway…

This was a great LifeHacker article wherein the author stated their ability to manage ADHD while in school, and I can see how it would fit very well into the real world.  Not that school isn’t real, it’s just not reality.  Wait until those “Tiger Kids” start hitting the job market, with their Valedictorian status, and their ability to play 3 instruments and speak 4 languages and completely deny all levels of social leisure.  Nobody wants to work with a person who can’t chill the hell out for 10seconds.

There are many silos of diagnoses for ADD, btw.  I can focus on something I am interested in for long periods of time, including writing. For some people it may be gardening, but not plumbing repair, nor dryer vent-cleaning.  So, what, that person has ADD, right?  Do we have to focus on everything all the time?  Maybe all I needed to get over my intellectual inferiority complex in high school was a tap on the shoulder in Trigonometry class, and somebody to tell me;

“Hey man, you’re sitting between 2 of the hottest girls in school, an hour before lunch, and you lifted weights 30min ago.  You shouldn’t be interested in graphing cos t any more than you’re interested in wearing a high-top fade.  Chill.  Get Kristie’s number and chill.”

With all of science working as hard as it has, there has yet to be a pharamceutical breakthrough that makes boring people more interesting.

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America; The Greatest Idea In The World

This may very well fall into the “Love It Or Leave It!” category for many people, but it is something that is gnawing at me, and has been for almost 2 decades.  In the near future I will write up a few entries on the topics of American History, Idealism, Patriotism, Culture, and Future.  I am by no means a narrowly-focused Ph.D’er in love with the topics of Social Refurbishment Of The Family Model and/or Societal Economic Impacts On The Middle Class in Pre- and Post-“Oprah!” America.  But as a guy with a family and an underwater mortgage and 2 kids to feed and clothe and send into the world with a postiive outlook on life, there’s a growing sense that either SOMETHING is in the air to keep people in financial quicksand (move slowly and you can get out!) so they stick around and feed the Beast that is Bad Government, or it’s always been like this and nothing is in control and this ship is rudderless and why do i even give a shit, because it’ll be over too soon anyway?

So that will be coming along in case anybody cares at all, and it will be very opinionated because I don’t want to research a ton of stuff and also I’ll have some great recipes to share!  Thanks for reading!

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The “Ray – Lee” Files; Female Edition pt 2!

In a rare version of the “Ray-Lee Files” saga, we have a FEMALE participant.
It happens, but it’s rare!

In blogs-past I have noted that the purveyors of violent crimes seem to have the middle name of Ray or Lee. 
I’m not sure if it’s the brevity of the name where people feel slighted and act out, or perhaps the names belie an upbringing in environmental factors ranging from low education, inability to spell longer/4+-letter words, or hatred of syllables.  Regardless, it’s pretty simple to see that these two names usually mean trouble…

Charge: Mom stabs woman caught in bed with son  by Levi Pulkkinen
“King County prosecutors contend Christina Lee Robinson stabbed her adult son’s girlfriend in the leg after finding the two of them in bed together at the family’s Haller Lake neighborhood apartment.”

Daaaaam-n.  Mama felt disrespected that her son was bumpin’ booties, took a knife to the bed while they were still in it! 

IT GETS WEIRDER…

“Writing the court, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jeffrey Dernbach said the woman’s son had been shot in the leg. Police recovered shell casings from the apartment.

“However,” the prosecutor continued, “no one at the scene claimed to have any knowledge of the shooting.”

So, just something to keep in mind when choosing your kid’s middle names.  Sound it out. Does it sound crimey?  Does it sound like a judge will shake their jowls while pronouncing it?  Then NO.  Spartacus needs a new middle name. 

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My Two Cents: A Simple Business Lesson

This is a quick lesson about customer service and making money for people who don’t or haven’t pondered the actual importance of customers and money to their business.

My gym/fitness club has a fitness beverage/smoothie counter in it, operated by a franchise.  It’s a little overpriced but super convenient when I’m in a rush and need to pound 70g of protein and a banana and almond milk and don’t have a NutriBullet plugged in the Honda.  Which is more frequently than you may imagine. 

On the counter is a “$1” basket, where you can buy, for $1, any number of sample-sized items.  Amino acid powders to mix in your water, help you move along in the workout.  Maybe some Energy Boosters to pop before you change into your sweatpants so that when you’re about ready to do some sit-ups, you’ll feel energized… like enough energy to nakedly grapple a gawddammed rabid bear BECAUSE THOSE PILLS HAVE ONE GEAR AND IT’S GONNA HAPPEN WHETHER OR NOT YOU’RE ON THE ELLIPTICAL AND YOU’RE GONNA FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE A CHAINSAW DICK, CAPTAIN KHAKIPANTS…Image

i pulled a packet of amino powder out the other day, it was clearly labeled “FOR INTRA-WORKOUT FOCUS AND ENERGY – NOT LABELED FOR RESALE”.  But I don’t care, it’s a dollar, and I had a $1 bill on me and I needed workout focus and energy, labeling be damned.

The gal working the counter rings me up… $1.08
Sorry, what?  8 cents over a dollar?  Taxed on an item you’re not supposed to be selling?  I just look at her and say, “Oh, I don’t have any change, can we just do the dollar?” 
She’s like “Umm, sorry, it won’t let me.”  SO HERE’S THE LESSON

I said, “Ah, ok.  Sorry, I don’t have any change.”  No sale.  Not then.  Not in the future.
You either make a dollar on a free item, or you lose a dollar on a free item due to 8 pennies worth of misprogramming.  And hopefully hear the message:
Getting some of something you need is always better than getting all of nothing.

I had this issue with a local vacuum & sewing machine repair shop, too.  We were given a very nice, ridiculously powerful vacuum cleaner that takes special bags we usually have to order online.  A local business sells them for $22.99 for 6, so you can see how many ways this vacuum sucks.  Online we can get them for $17 + $3 shipping.  We walked into the local brick & mortar and said “Hey, we have $20 for these bags.”
The lady behind the counter with enough time on her hands to barely look up from her magazine said “Hmm, those are $23, though.” 
“Yeah, but we don’t have the $3, I have cash ready to buy one of these 7 packs, can we do $20?”

She looked at us with distrust, like we’re trying to pull a fast one on her.  Well, nobody gets one over on this gal.  Nope.  No dice.  Wouldn’t budge.  Also, wouldn’t be adding any money from us, then or in the future, into her till. 

The customer doesn’t always have to be RIGHT.  But you have to have a customer in the store before you can even have a discussion with them, let alone build the relationship, appreciate their business, and try to upsell them on a real nice Dyson you just repaired. 

If you run a business and have a set price for something, remember that price is what you HOPE the customer will pay for the item.  Why stop there?  Why not sell 1 pair of over-embossed sweatpants for $180, instead of 6 pairs at $50?  Less work for you, right?  I’m not saying you should haggle over every little item you want to buy; it’s not a garage sale, it’s a place of business.  But don’t let 8% cost you 100%.  Do the right thing. 

Oh, and have some food samples out. 

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Faithful or Paranoid?

There’s a huge difference between the Faithful and the Paranoid. I see religious people reciting or posting or quoting Biblical references all the time – this may happen with the Muslim community as well, though I’ve yet to see them quote the Koran in a facebook post – and I’m not sure why.

I was raised going to church a LOT.  And the messages haven’t really stuck.  The interactions with some people have, though.  That old saying of how you’ll always remember how somebody made you feel rings very true.  I can’t remember every sermon, hymn, or Sunday School lesson, but I do know the difference between Faith and Paranoia.

Faith, they say, is the unshakeable belief and confidence in the reality of things you cannot see.  It is usually a belief in a deity or in the doctrines of a belief system which work FOR the benefit of the Faithful.
Paranoia, however, is defined as a repetitive thought pattern fueled by anxiety about an unseen or misperceived threat. 

Faith is ordering a drink and knowing it will eventually arrive at your table and be as you expected it to be.
Paranoia is thinking the drink won’t show up on time and when it does it will be awful and probably poisoned.

The thin line between Faithful and Paranoid bisects the gray area between “Realistically Positive” and “Realistically Negative.”  And when somebody of Faith tells anybody else what they are doing is wrong and will doom them based on the doctrines of a faith the listener doesn’t adhere to, the Faithful has then become a Paranoid scorekeeper. 

Amen.

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Gym Neighbors

If you’ve ever worked out in a public fitness facility, like a Gold’s Gym or a high school weight room or “The Y,” and I’m not saying that you have NOT, you look fine for now…

But if you have ever been in such a place you know there are some rules.  And if you DON”T know the rules, well you’re the reason I’m writing this.  These rules are the most-basic etiquette for behavior in a gym, and the people most likely to break them?  THE YOUTH.

The disrespectful, self-entitled, “Fuck you I am on the way up and over your dying ass” Youth.  And idiots.

 

Wipe It Down, Dry It Off

You’re sweating out hot sauce and beer gas from the weekend, all over the elliptical machine which you’ve cranked to Level 4/Mall Walking.  As you marinate the machine you release your toxins and begin to feel a bit better.  Hopefully if you’re only doing cardio you’re doing HIIT cardio, and not planning on trying to hit 49min of boring stuff.  HIIT’s where it’s at.  And you’re drippin’ your biodiesel all over the machine.  This goes for the fixed-weight/pulley machines, too.  You sweat it, you wet it, you wipe it.

Fine.  That’s part of the gig and the machine can take it.  When you’re done, you get a towel of any kind, as clean as it can be, and any kind of cleaning/degreasing spray.  You spray that on the machine or the towel (I get the towel damp, don’t wanna hit other gym-goers with spray) and you WIPE OFF ALL THE SWEAT YOU CAN WIPE OFF OF THE MACHINE.  Not the floor areas.  Anything that a human has to touch or look at after you head off to your Zumba!!! class.  Clean it up.  No sweat left behind. 

PENALTY:  $10 for the first machine, $20 for each one after that. Suspended membership, picture on the wall.  SHAME.

 

Weight Management

Sweet chocolatey Gregg Avedon this eludes far too many people.  Two principles of managing free weights to keep in mind.

1)      Handle Your Load:  Lotta guys still doing that “Pick up the heaviest weight I can, drop it on the floor, kick it to my bench” move with the dumbells.  If you can’t carry it 5 feet, you really wanna be pushing that over your face?  Or do you need attention?  Because you’re damaging the floor, the weights, and your reputation.  10 perfect reps of a weight you can handle for 10 reps are far better than 4 grunting spasms under a weight you can’t count to.  How do you plan to…

2)      RACK YOUR FUCKING WEIGHT:  More precisely, re-rack it.  You put whatever it was, a 3lb red-microsuede medicine ball or a 45.5kg plate, right back where you found it.  Something in it’s place already?  Find the next place it fits.  You don’t’ leave it on the bar in case somebody randomly wants to hit a quick set of 315lb squats.  You don’t tuck the 35-lb’ers under the bench and walk over to wonder what your legs would look like if you worked ‘em out.  You put ‘em back on the rack by the other 35’s, or in between 30 and 40. 

PENALTY:  $1/lb of unracked weight.  2nd offense = Being spotted on the bench by an older Greek man with loose shorts and no underpants.  3rd offense = Suspended membership.  SHAME.

HOLD THE BALL
If you like to play basketball, or “hoop” as white people call it, you’re probably gonna take your ball that you own from the locker room all the way over to the basketball court.  If you’re inside for the duration of the trip to the court and you have a basketball in your position, hold it.  Don’t bounce it.  Don’t dribble it across the entire facility.  BOMP  BOMP  BOMBOMP  BOMP BOMP BOMP BOMPBOMPBOMPBOMP stop it, hold the ball. 

We wouldn’t allow a guy with a bass drum strapped to his belly like a marching band pounder to hammer out a 2:4 beat from the Spin class over to the Stairblaster without glaring.  Why should you, bouncer of the ball, be any different?  Because you have a tanktop from a Summer camp?  You’re wearing retro Pippen’s?  Shorts below the knee are not a pass to act like you’re about to create a highlight reel in the Under 25 game.  Hold the ball. 

PENALTY: Anybody can approach, defend, and hand-check you across the weight room and gets to keep your ball if they knock it outta your hand, then puncture it with an ice pick while your smelly cousin watches. 

 

Phone Down, Weight Up
The Youth are into this new workout craze where you do a set of something, then fill the next 3 minutes by scrolling through the smartphone to see something.  I don’t know what.  But it requires being totally still, sitting on one bench or standing in one place or walking around with your head down and almost bumping into people.

If the facility has a WiFi server, every 10minutes just send out a blast message that reads “KEEP CALM AND PUT THE PHONE AWAY”.  Keep it moving.  Other people have actual friends to socialize with.

 So there ya go.  Anything else happening in the gym is up to you.  Most of us are paying too much money to lift weights with dumbasses.  You can be an animal without being a savage.  Stay dry, rack it, and hold your stuff.  Good advice any time.

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Leading By Bad Example

Years ago now, when I lived in Culver City which is not Los Angeles and shouldn’t be considered as such, I worked at a Casting Services studio for a short stint.  Very cool slice of entertainment, it was a multi-room casting studio that ran auditions for commercials both small and Majorly McMajor Light.  Every now and then there’d be a call for a photo shoot, models… I mean, like… MAAHDULLLZ… would be in there and holy crap, there’s a different level of genetic co-mingling than what most of the world has ever seen and it’s all within a 1-hour drive of Santa Monica, CA.

I wasn’t particularly well-trained for the technical side of the studio.  There were a few things I could do, but for the most part what I found was that I didn’t have the time on the system-in-use to really jockey it into position when needed.  And I wanted to know that stuff because it makes ya look like a rock star when your boss needs a salad and you deliver a rolling buffet.  On this particular day I may have pulled together a fruit leather-like effort.  Mostly because, like I said, I was poorly prepared.

That day I was asked to consolidate 3 auditions from 3 actors from 3 sessions of 3 products.  Which means they were in different files on the computers, IF the sessions had all been sent to the common server.  That shouldn’t be difficult, because I know how to file and name and organize documents and resources in a technical format for logical recall and search purposes.  But sweet chocolate Moses, these were spread out ever’where.

And of COURSE there’s a deadline in an hour.  And of COURSE the person who wants it gave very little direction as to where it was to be delivered.  And naturally, this is for 2 of the biggest accounts the casting director (who heavily influences the client/advertiser) handles.  So yeah, there’s some sweat, but as I sat down I was like HELLS YEAH LET’S FIND THESE PEOPLE AND THESE BACKFLIPS AND ACTING LIKE DRINKING A BEER ON A SNOWMOBILE IS SECOND NATURE… and hand this to them at The Ivy in 72min.

No. Fucking. Chance.  Impossible.  The program I was using was capable of doing that.  I wasn’t able to wrangle it to do so, however.   I called everybody I could.  The guys who created the system (who later I worked for and they are the coolest guys and I hope they stay on their up-trend, because those guys are on the casting frontier), not available as they were probably supporting another client.  The guy who normally ran tech, unavailable, possibly stoned or in urgent care at that time, not very healthy for a 22 year-old.  The other in-studio experts, all unavailable and off-site doing other stuff.  So I’m on a deflating raft and bailing water with one hand and rowing towards shore with the other.

And here’s what didn’t help that day.  One person in particular who had absolutely nothing better to do than run in and out of the studio I was in, asking “IS IT DONE?  IS IT DONE?  COME ON MAN, THIS IS IMPORTANT!”  No.  No.  I know.  If you’re not adding, you’re a subtraction.

I remember thinking how little I respected that guy that day.  He was the Manager, and he did not have to save my ass, but what he missed was this crucial point to performing under pressure:  Had he made the urgent call to get the issue handled by somebody who really knew what was going on, not only would the job get done… HE’D BE DOING HIS JOB AS WELL AS MAKING HIS BOSS LOOK LIKE A PROFESSIONAL.

Instead he took almost a bit of joy in watching me sweat through my shirt while coming in every 7minutes to complain and moan for the completion of the task.  Eventually one of the real experts came by for a free beer in the comp’ny fridge and popped in to take over.  Turns out one of the files wasn’t loaded to the server so I couldn’t find it anyway.  And another session I needed was misnamed so it took him another 15min to find it.

It ain’t like I was SEAL-ing a mission and saving lives, I was just trying to make sure 3 actors got another look for a break in a commercial for processed cheese.  But I learned that if you’re gonna lead, there are some things that are so important you just have to do them yourself.  You can teach while you do it, but if you can’t teach while you do it, you can’t scold the student for not knowing more than the teacher.

Plus, that guy was an asshole.

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Everybody’s The Smartest Dumbass, Dumbass

The internet is not just a giant suckhole of your time, sanity, and sanctity, it’s also where dipshits, tardloads, and the occasional thick-skulled seat-sniffer volleys a shot at your intelligence from their dandruff and sebum-grouted keyboard.  Everybody’s a tough guy until they get punched in the mouth.  That’s why they never show their mouth.  You can’t punch an internet tough-guy (a.k.a. “keyboard warrior”) in the mouth because theirs is full of a brain-frying energy drink and microwaved snacks.

A few months ago there was a “highlight” circulating of a high-school football scrimmage, wherein a running back takes a pitch-out around right-end and heads up-field.  He makes a “spectacular flip” over a defender and heads for the end-zone. I saw it and thought right away how the back made a full spin in the backfield (takes eyes off defense), the defense seemed really soft, the blocker falls down, and the safety from the middle of the field doesn’t even try to tackle the kid.  It looked staged.

Why stage it?  Hell if I know.  But it looked staged to me.  And I said as much in the comments.  And wow, did the dipshits come out of the basement jerk-closets!

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My name, GLRules is there.  My comment at the top.  I had 12 thumbs-downers, so a dozen people thought I was a complete asspipe.  Fine.
Then an anonymous user misspells “obviously” while making an assumption about my football-playing past.  He’s wrong. I did play football, I study it, I love it.

Then “ManU” chimes in stating that it’s a scrimmage so OF COURSE nobody’s trying… except the kid risking knee ligaments to flip over somebody, while the scrimmage just HAPPENED TO BE CAPTURED ON VIDEO BY SOMEBODY?! Which most coaches would rather you NOT F*CKING DO. Plus, ManU is the moniker of a popular British Soccer squad, so their knowledge of full-out sporting is suspect.

Isn’t my primary comment my way of tossing my TapouT hat into the “Ring of Tards”?  Sure.  I know it may get comments and those comments may be from idiots.  But when you call it out, and it’s faked, and people defend it, and 2 weeks later it’s A COMMERCIAL FOR A WIRELESS CARRIER… then yeah… you get to walk out of the tard ring knowing that you weren’t crapping on some kid’s dream of being a getting a full-ride Parkour scholarship.  So what do you do in that case?

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Ya just keep throwing.

Never let dipshits get the better of ya.

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Putting the NO in Technology

Technology has now officially slowed me down.  Or regulated itself to the point that life is back to the way it was before technology got to helpin’ out.  It’s only as good as its connectivity.

See, I tried to call in a refill for a prescription.  Line was busy, try on-line. 3min
Go on-line, website says I need to register for a new account.  2min
Register for a new account.  Email’s taken.  Must have signed up before?  3min
Need a password reset.  Password sent to email address.  3min
Now I need to log in to that email account for a password I wouldn’t need if the line wasn’t busy. 2min
And reset the password.  2min
And log in.  1min
And fill out the Rx info.  3min
3+2+3+3+2+2+1+3 = 19 minutes

Drop off Rx at counter of place by my house = 6min.

It is exactly this type of technology that will drive us right back to talking to each other face-to-face, and then WHAT KINDA WORLD WILL IT BE???

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Diaper Genie II Review

In the movie Ghostbusters, the heart of the operation is really the Ectoplasmic Containment Unit.  Some would argue it’s Annie Potts character Janine, or even Dana Barrett’s neighbor Louis, played to the understated hilt by Rick Moranis.  But no… it’s the ECU.  The ECU holds all of the captured apparitions, ghouls, and roamers captured by the gang.  Until Walter “Dickless” Peck from the City shuts the show down.

You can get a shitload of diapers in here.

Akin to the ECU is the Diaper Genie 2.  It uses a footpedal-top door-capture&drop system to receive and deposit diapers of various fill levels/matter.  From the super-peeped to the lagging loader, it can swallow up almost anything you toss down it.  Beware… there are two pieces to the DG – and thus, a greater expense is incurred.  We were given a DG as a gift, and basically have to pay for the bags every month.  Special bags. Bags that you couldn’t possibly replicate with something from the grocery store.

SlopDrop
DiaperGenie II, as used by Thing Addams

The DG has a proprietary bagging system that starts at the top with a sort of bag-sphincter.  The plastic extends from within the sphincter, ties-off to become a bag, and then drops down below the diaper air-lock.  The top of the DG opens, you drop the diaper into the chamber which is about the size of a coffee can, then release the footpedal.  That allows the dipe to drop into the abyss of the DG, effectively packing a deeper and tighter “poop sausage.”  Bags’ll run you about $7-$9 depending on where you buy ‘em.  We’ve found good deals at Target.  We’ve also found some weird accents and smells at Target.  Onward.

So here’s the issue.  The idea of the DG’s crapper-keeper is to allay the onslaught of hours & days-old dipe odors.  Those can range from warm canteloupe to a box of blood-soaked peanuts from the Civil War.  The solid-food days of the toddler’s diet are the creators of epically weird poops.  Into diapers go said poops.  Said dipes go into said Genie.

And when you rub that lamp, SIM SALAABIM… The Diaper Genie comes out and grants you 3 wishes, all of which are “MAKE IT STOP BECAUSE MY EYESOCKETS ARE BURNING!”  Also known as “The Ghost Of Breakfast Past,” the DG upper-chamber traps all the up-waft of the dipe-loads of the deep.  You pop that top and get an odiferous uppercut of kid butt.  I’d rather a Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man threaten my high-rise.

So, between the cost of the Genie, the bags, and the lingering gross-ghost, I’d pass on the Diaper Genie.  Beware to all who rub the lamp.  Frankly I find it weird poop just keeps going from one hole to another, unless you work in corporate America, where it all rolls down the aisle of your cubicle… Another time…

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