Almost there...

So... this project was intended to last at least 365 posts, obviously it isn't that easy. But I'm almost there, and if people can say anything about me is that I'm stubborn (often confused with persistent, but I like to thing otherwise :P) and I want to finish this.

In the last month many things have happened, and at the same time, not much has changed. I moved to a new house, went to Juárez to visit my family and friends, I'm almost done with my big project (the one with the Raspberry Pi), and I was able to make breath... twice (one at my parents house and one in my new one).

Other than that, nothing much has happened, I have been reading The Count of Monte Cristo as well as playing some video games, I finished the Mass Effect trilogy and have been playing Dragon Age: Origins (more than 20 hours and not even half way through). I have been trying to squeeze some time into another projects, but sometimes it is really difficult. I finally got to the third season of Star Trek (the original series) and I'm at season 5 of Doctor Who, although it get a little boring sometimes when the episodes are reconstructed (photographs of the episode with the audio and some text to describe whats happening).

I really like my new house, it's really comfy and feels better, and it has a water boiler (no more cold showers :D), there are so many minor details that I didn't like of the other one, and while this one is more expensive, I feel like it's worth it.

My niece is growing bigger and bigger, and she is so cute, I wish I could spend more time with her, but on the other hand I don't wan't to leave my job, maybe I don't make as much money as I could make in another job, but at least here I feel very good, I can experiment and learn new things.

So here are some photos that I have taken in the last month.

Garlic and paprika bread that I made at my parents home, the best I have made so far, at least that's what everyone that ate told me.

By request of my sister I cooked an Italian version of the Burek Bosinan, it was awesome too

My loot from my trip to Juárez, a few boxes of twinings tea and The Theory of Everything from Ayreon that a friend gave to me.

First try to make bread in my new oven, I didn't measure anything (haven't bought scales or measurement cups), and the oven doesn't say what temperature it is.

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Not the best looking bread, but it tasted sooooooo good

Some risotto rice balls with cheese in the center that I cooked this weekend, they were awesome

First official 10k

Yesterday I finally ran my first official 10k, it was awesome and I felt great and it was easy, I did it under the 60 minutes mark, although I was close to not even run. I woke up at 3:00 am (approximately) with a pain between my ribs and my right lung, I don't know why, but it was bad.

I didn't know what to do or try, I really wanted to run (specially since I had already paid my inscription :P). I had some aspirins but I wasn't sure they were going to work, I tried to stretch but it didn't do anything either. After a few minutes of me feeling bad I threw up part of what I had for dinner, that made me feel better, (maybe because of the endorphins).

It was just 4:00 and I was still felling crappy, and I laid in my bed for a few minutes and after that I took a shower, eat a pb&j sandwich and some and some milk to not go with an empty stomach and the pain was coming back, not as strong as before, but it was there, I was thinking of not going, but either way I had to return a thing (a chip or something like that that I had to put on my tennis to register the start and finish times).

The morning was perfect, it was like 15 or 17 degrees, it was cloudy and with some wind, when I arrived to the place where the race was going to be I decided to run, pain or no pain, but I wasn't going to risk myself, if I felt that I couldn't do it, I was going to stop.

A few minutes before the race the organizers had a speech and people did some warm up, except me and probably some others, lol, when I run I never warm up, I have never had an injury (and I remember reading that it doesn't make that much difference except with low impact exercises.

I was still feeling some pain but it was smaller, when the race started and I started running I wasn't feeling it anymore, I felt great and I was sure I was going to finish it, after all, it wasn't my first time running that distance, it was only my first time running with others.

It really makes a difference, I don't know why, but people sheering and saying my name when I passed them really motivated me, one hour later I finished and was still with some adrenaline, after that we were given some things like fruit, water, trail mix, gatorade, and some other things, I felt good and I think I beat my record for a few seconds, lol.

I received a medal too for finishing the race, nothing special, but it's the first medal I have received in ages, lol.

It's not easy to take pictures with sweaty hands :P

Stainless steel pot hack...

A few months ago I bought a induction cooktop and it is awesome, although it has given me some headaches, not the cooktop, but the pans/pots I can use with it, so far I only have two that work with it, but before this weekend I only were able to use one, a peltre one, that isn't that bad, except that everything sticks to it if you aren't very careful.

The other one is a stainless steel pot that doesn't work, it isn't good enough for it to work, or it doesn't have enough pulling force for it to activate the cooktop. When I bought it I tried to return it because of that, but the store where I bought it didn't wan't to return me my money claiming that it wasn't in condition to resell it since it had a stain... a freaking stain in a pan I had bought the day before... I almost lost it, I was really pissed of and almost left it there... or rather throw it at something. But that is another story.

So after that I have been trying to get some good quality stainless steel pans or pots, but they are way to expensive, the cheapest I have found are like 100 dollars, and I don't know if they will work, and the best ones I have found are like a 1000 dollars, very freaking good quality, but I can't invest that much money on a few pans, not now at least, when I have a good kitchen where I can use it hell yeah I'm going to invest in something like that. The other option is amazon, they aren't that expensive, but the transport fees make them way to expensive.

So if anyone wants to buy an induction cooktop, make sure that your pans/pots are good enough to work with it, or that you can return them if they don't work.

I have been using that pot with an electric stove, but it isn't as efficient as the induction one, it is sloooooow. Yesterday I was boiling some water in the peltre one and I don't remember why I changed it with the stainless steel one without turning off the cooktop and it didn't turn off.

So I thought that maybe it was working now and the last times I tried it was just failing, I turned it off and on again and it didn't work. I tried turning it on with the peltre pot and then changed them and it worked again. I decided to try and use it to cook and oh, it makes a big difference, I cooked some rice and it turn out awesome, and it didn't stick and I didn't have to take care of it like I had with the pletre pot.

Tried some other things and works, the only problem is that if it falls under certain wattage it deactivates and I need to use the peltre pot to reactivate it, and I need to be quick when changing them for it to work, but whatever, better than nothing.

10K

A few weeks ago I starter running again, I had not ran since I moved here from Juárez. Before, the best I was able to run was like 4 Km, in 3 or 4 sessions with a few minutes of resting in between. Back then I felt that I had hit a wall that I wasn't passing, I got stuck at that, but since I only wanted to run back then I was ok with it, I thought that with time rather than increasing the length I could lower the time, for a few months I barely made any progress, and then I moved here.

When I got here I wasn't comfortable with going to out to run so I started to jump a rope, it was good exercise, but frustrating at time. When I moved to my current place I wanted to start running again, but for a few months I wasn't able for many reasons, so I continued with the rope.

While it is a good exercise, I felt that I was missing something, so one Sunday I just went out to run to the park. I don't know how much I ran that time, but I felt that it wasn't much, at best it was like 12 or 15 minutes, not more, although it could be less. I felt so good after doing it, tired, breathless, sweaty and full of energy.

For the next weeks I tried to go out after work some days and the other continue with the rope, then was one day that I was just unable to jump the rope, I was hitting myself and got frustrated, so I just said fuck it, went to run and since then I have been only running. In the end I feel better after running, even if I feel all achy, lol.

Every Sunday I have been trying to run more than I did last week, I started with 3 Km without stopping since I was running that but in two sessions.

Next week I was going to try 4 but I was able to run 5, next week I was going for 6, but got 7, after that I was going to try 7 again but a little less time, got 8, and this week I wanted to do 9 within an hour, but I felt that I could go for more, so I went to 10, I feel that I could have ran a little more, but I don't wan't to injure myself, and I already accomplished one of my goals for this year, now I just want to get to a 10k marathon and finish it and do it in less time.

This time I did 1 hour with 10 minutes, so by the end of the year I want to see if I can do it at least in an hour, but I know that reducing 10 whole minutes will be hard, but I'll still try to do it.

I felt very happy because of this, a year ago this was only a long term goal that I had, now it is a reality, and obviously I wanted to give myself something special because of my accomplishment, probably by myself a coke and some chips, but then I thought that that would be better for when I run in a marathon and finish it, even if it's the same distance.

So this was my epic loot today

Weak...

So Dream Theater is releasing a new album, it comes out on September 24th and since Sergio's birthday was this week I pre ordered him a copy, I wasn't sure of doing it through Amazon or iTunes, but since I also want it I decided to try iTunes first, I didn't find where to gift it so I bought it for myself and bought it trough Amazon for him.

A few weeks ago Dream Theater released the first song of the album, I didn't want to hear it until I bought it, but the last days I have been very tempted to hear it. I received an email from Dream Theater's official website telling me that they just released the official video, then I saw it on my youtube feed, then on facebook, and on twitter, I was able to ignore it convincing myself that I wanted to hear the whole album.

When I pre ordered the album on iTunes I saw that they had that song on sale but  I wasn't going to buy just one song. So I ignored it, but then iTunes decides that it would be a good idea to allow me to download the song... then it syncs with Google Music and I see it on my phone... so I gave in finally...

After resisting so much I finally heard it, and it was awesome, I really like the new style on it, not one of the best but good enough for me to feel that the whole album will be good.

I just hope that this doesn't happen with the new album from Ayreon, specially since it's a concept album.

Random thought: Peanut butter sandwiches are freaking awesome and go well with tea :P

Investment...

I remember the first time I got a job I wanted to buy me some tennis shoes with my first payment, back in the day I thought I had a notion of what money could buy, I used to save money for anything that I wanted, I never liked asking my parents for things that I didn't need.

Since shoes and clothes are things that one needs my parents always paid for them, so even if I knew how much they cost I never had to feel the price. I must admit that I'm not really a person that likes expensive clothes or anything, except for shoes and tennis, I really like the nice ones. So obviously they are expensive.

So when I got my first check I went with my dad to buy some tennis since the ones I had were almost dead. I was looking around and found ones that I really liked, when I saw the price I realized that they costed more than I had made in that long week of work and my dad was just laughing when I told him. Since then my parents either helped me buy them or I bought cheaper ones.

Fast forward to this past Saturday and I decided to buy new ones since I don't have that many expenses right now, so I had some spare money (not really, that is for my laptop, but it can wait :P). Since I started running again I decided to buy running shoes, I knew they would be expensive, but in the long run it would be a better investment, the ones I had weren't meant to run and I lost a few nails because of it (6 so far, in 4 fingers, so I have lost them two times in the same fingers).

I went to a sports store and was looking for tennis and as always I didn't like them (I like them simple, not flashy), and most of them were too expensive. I found some in the 100 dollars range, and I found ones that I liked (by discarding method), I remembered what Angelica told me about getting ones half a number bigger and I did, tried them and they felt awesome, so much better than the ones I had and so I bought them.

This Sunday I went out to run and they felt awesome, I ran a little more than 8 Km in like 50 minutes and my feet didn't hurt like they used to with my other tennis. So far I think that the investment was well worth it, although I felt the hit when I paid them since I wasn't planning on buying them for at least another month.

Today I'll give them the next test since yesterday I rested, I'm just hoping that it won't be raining in the night XD (it has been raining for the last week, and it will rain all this week because a hurricane)

Weird...

So right now I'm a vegetarian jew that is wrong because I don't talk much with people and don't care for a partner and always say no to every suggestion they make to me... That's what I can recollect from what people have said about me in the last weeks.

Some context, because that doesn't make any sense. Apparently me eating meat only on Saturdays means I'm vegetarian, although I have eaten here meat... a few times, and I'm wrong in this because... one needs to eat meat, at least according to a coworker. Ok, I get that it sounds weird coming from me guys since I'm not vegetarian, but that's how I roll :P, I only eat meat once a week.

I almost had a discussion because of this (not a fight, just a normal discussion), my coworker said that you need protein and thanks to that I didn't need to say much, just say what you guys know better than me, you can get protein from many places apart from animals, conversation ended :P

According to another coworker I'm like one of those jew guys because I don't celebrate holidays, I suppose Hanukkah isn't a popular here, I didn't say anything, I really don't care if people believe that I'm a jew, and unless I'm asked directly something about my religion views, I won't talk about it just because I'm lazy and I don't want to invest time in explain all the things that people often say, specially since there are some persons that are very religious here. Just thinking of them asking me questions about it make me tired, but I won't deny anything.

According to the lady that cleans the office I'm wrong in how I am because I'm way to serious and don't talk much with people here, and I'm wronger (if that is a word XD) because if I talk to someone usually is through my computer or cellphone. She has said to me that I should talk with another coworker that eats here too, and I do talk sometimes, but lets get real here, who among us can talk for a long time with someone that doesn't have anything in common with you? I just can't, I can talk about stupid things, but those are stupid things that interest me, not football, beer, cars and/or carne asada, or the telenovelas, or t.v. in general.

According to another coworker I'm not ok living alone, I need someone with me or something like that. Seriously this is something that bothered me because I really am enjoying living alone... well, enjoyed when I was alone, right now my brother is staying with me, so who knows when I'll live alone again.

I don't get it how it isn't even an option for some people being alone. Right now I feel great, I even talk more now with some friends than when I was in Juarez, same with my family, just because those interactions are made through a computer doesn't mean I'm not talking with them, and even if I didn't talk with them, what would be the problem of me not talking to anyone? I go out more, I have more opportunity to do things and the money for it. I finally feel like a productive person and I don't want to change this unless is for something better...

I don't even know what I was writing about, I started in the morning and I don't feel like reading it again and changing something...