J. Jason Lazarus Blog

After a doctor’s appointment this last week I’ve really decided to stop floundering around my attempt to loose more weight and actually do it. Although my blood pressure is a lot better than it was last year, it still needs some work. Apparently, this time last year I was at 242 lbs with a BP of 140/90 - that’s really bad. According to the doctor’s scale I’m now 228 and 138/80 - apparently a lot better but still need some more help. According to my house scale which is accurate, I’m right at 220. I was, at my lowest in the last year, 210. I want to get down to 180 and I’m damned serious now about making that happen. I’m going to do it, period, end of story. Although hypertension does run on both sides of my family the idea of trying to take control of it before it’s a problem appeals to me much more than not doing so. I’m planning to get some lab work to see how my cholesterol is doing - which i’m sure I won’t be happy about. Nonetheless, I’m completely gun-ho on getting this in check - if I can fall from the “high risk” category to the “medium risk” category in the last year, I’m certain with my new found determination, that I’ll get to “low risk” within the next six months. The last six months I’ve been pretty much giving up on truly trying to lose weight but now I know I need to do it. As much as I love my parents - they aren’t in prime shape and a lot of the problems they do have could’ve been aleviated if they would’ve dealt with the problems at my age - granted, the times were different and other things were more important. Now that I’ve got virtually free access to the gym and determination to go (as well as diet) I have no reason not to get in shape. Wish me luck!

Other than that I’ve been trying to eliminate stress in my life. To be honest a lot of this self-concious stuff about my lifestyle came from one of those cheesy tests they get you to take at work about your overall health. I’m completely under the impression that my stress level (and thus, part of my high BP) has something to do with how much I let the little things bother me. Anyone that knows me knows how anal I can get about rediculous things - and so, I’m trying to eliminate that.

As I’ve said for a few weeks now, I’ve been trying to save cash for a house this summer. Although I do have some second thoughts on if such a move is really smart for us, being so… young… Deanna’s dead-set on getting into a house. I guess my position on it is waivering only because I don’t know many people our age (25/23) that have a house - that they own. It seems a little too good to be true - you know? At this point in my life, should I really have a house? Can we really afford it? As odd as it sounds the whole prospect of getting into a house scares me more than getting married ever did - by far. I hate to say it but I’ve got very, very few friends that are anywhere near being financially sound enough to have a house on their own - so without any nearby success stories to look at as an example I automatically think that we’re going to fail. It’s just really frustrating and confusing - hopfully in the next few months of saving it’ll all start to become a reality rather than a oncoming nightmare. I’m hoping that to lessen the burden on us that my parents will chip in but that’s truly unforseen. Saving enough for a down payment at my pay rate is pretty hard already but only having a few months? Well, most of that is our fault…but… *sigh*

Anyways, Thanksgiving was good - the break was well-deserved. I needed to sleep in for four days till 10 and 11am. Watched a few movies over the weekend at home, spent a evening over at Joe’s watching movies and bullshitting - had a great time. Deanna spent a night out with the girls and other than that, didn’t do much. Of coarse we had the traditional meal with my parents but not much else… just rested a lot. I finished the entire season of Firefly last night - still trying to figure out why it was cancelled. Such a wonderfully done show - the writing is some of the best I’ve ever seen in a sci-fi show and the visuals are usually astounding. I’ve come to the conclusion that both Fox and UPN love to kill Sci-fi series - Fox played Firefly episodes out of order - only showing the first two opening episodes weeks after it premered - and UPN killed Enterprise by having it on in the middle of the night on Fridays. What the hell. *sigh* I can only hope that the Scifi Channel will buy up the rights for it and start producing new episodes of Firefly - I have to come to grips with the fact that Enterprise isn’t coming back.

I’m sure I’ll have more updates this week. Sorry for the long entry - hopefully I didn’t kill you. Will try to update on my progress with the weight issue as well as working out.

So - if you’ve got a Mac and you use the latest Internet Explorer, head over to msn.com - a treat is in store for you! Even though I wouldn’t ever use Internet Explorer normally on either a PC or a Mac, while working on updating webpages I have to insure a full range of compatibility - which requires me (shutter) to use IE. Using IE on a Mac, going to msn.com, you get a interesting message:

Why does MSN look like this? Your browser cannot find our style and presentation information and as a result may not display the page properly. You are welcome to use the page as is, or upgrade your browser to its latest version which may address the problem. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, go to the Microsoft Internet Explorer website to install the latest version. If you are using another browser, see the provider’s website for more information.If you are using Internet Explorer for Mac, we recommend that you use another browser to have an optimal experience on MSN.

You’re telling me that a Microsoft Browser, the most up-to-date release (released in 2003 - think they need to update?) won’t work on a Microsoft website? What?? And at that, Microsoft is suggesting that we use another browser? *blink* but I thought you were a leader in software engineering…? Wow. Silly Microsoft. tisk, tisk. *closes IE forever and goes back to his trusty Firefox*

Trying to lighten the load around my house as well as make some money off my infinite pile ‘o crap. If you’re around Fairbanks (or anywhere for the smaller items) and want something, email me at jason@lucidperceptions.com. The list will be moved up and edited as things sell or as I begin to add more things to it.

19” Proview monitor with tiny 2mm scratch on screen - barely noticable. Would still be using it if I didn’t get a LCD. - $40
15” Compaq monitor - works great. - $20
17” Gateway monitor - again, works great - $30
512 MB PC2700 DDR Ram stick - $35
ATI All in Wonder 7500 (or 8500) graphics card (agp)- watch and record tv on your computer - $20

I’ll have a ton more coming - just can’t think of anything right now.

Look at this. Something tells me that the AP-Wire is a little dry today.

So after talking to more and more people apparently a good percentage of fairbanks is completely under the impression that Fairbanks is a small town of 30,000. Apparently people also think that the city limits are pretty all-encompassing. They’re not. In fact most of our residental areas are far outside these limits so 30,000 is a horrible estimate of how many people we’ve got in Fairbanks - we’re closer to the 100k mark than the 30k mark, that’s for sure. We can support all of these increases in the retail sectors without hurting local business - and to be honest, if you ask me most of our local business needs a swift kick in the butt for the prices they’ve been expecting us to pay for goods and services just because we’re in Alaska.

But enough ranting. Didn’t do much this weekend - went to Chena Hot Springs alone with Deanna (good amount of people dropped out of the trip last minute) but still had a good time. Apparently you can loose weight at the hot springs - three hours in there and I was 4 lbs lighter when i got home - and that’s not all water cause I was drinking liquids all the way home. Apparently mildly boiling yourself for a few hours does have its benefits - well, not .. really.

So - got a little thing for each of you to do - look your last names up on Dictionary.com and Theasaurus.com. If your name is foreign and you know its linguistic decent, find out what it means through Altavista’s Bablefish and then go to dictionary.com. Kinda interesting what you come up with. Looking up my own last name I get a whole list of words describing “beggar” or “bankrupt” - kinda interesting when I’m doing much better than a good portion of my friends (not bragging at all).  My wife’s maiden name doesn’t work too well but a particular ex of mine works well when Synonyms like “complexity, entanglement, labyrinth, snarl, involvement” comes up. Just kinda funny. Just…kinda..funny. Anyways, post your findings if you have any - words are fun! wee!

Other than Chena Hot Springs we didn’t do much this weekend - went window shopping at some of the new shopping locales in Fairbanks and… um went to Chili’s yesterday. Can’t complain - actually pretty good. The bill wasn’t - although it rarely is at those thematic restaurants. Can’t wait till Barnes and Noble opens early next year - I’ll have even less reasons never to leave Fairbanks for the shopping opportunities of Anchorage.

I’m also working more on my photography - trying to get ready for a possible gallery showing. Don’t know if I’ll be able to but my prospects do look pretty high. Wish me luck!

For those of you reading/posting on the Forum or those of you living in Fairbanks realize how much the town I live in is booming. This I am, if anything, vehemently unopposed to. The idea of being vehemently unopposed to something might sound a little strange but it does manage to capture the bitterness I have for some of the local awareness groups in town currently protesting such commercial growth.

Outstanding from all of their points, which there seem to be very few that deviate from “save the community!” and “Wal-mart sucks” is this - Fairbanks hasn’t been a “small town” for years now. Anyone living under this assumption either lives in a extremely large city or has lived under a rock since the early 80s. Fairbanks doesn’t have a close-knit community that strives on local business. No business that I know of that has closed in the last year and a half (since Wal-mart came in) has closed citing Wal-mart as their excecutioner. In fact it’s hard to find that many businesses in town that has closed. Granted, all three Wendy’s closed - word on the street is “misappropriation of funds” and not increased competition. Offical blame has been placed partically on deployed troops even though military contengency and the Fairbanks Bowl has been growing. Owl Tree and Magic Carpet closed because the entreprenuers of each business wanted to get out of retail. In fact, astonishingly, the owner of Magic Carpet even was quoted as saying that Wal-mart wasn’t a reason.

Moving away from the Wal-mart issue there’s still Home Depot, Lowe’s, Chili’s Boston’s, the new Freds, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Barnes and Noble, Old Navy, Famous Footwear, Petco, Gamestop, Papa Murphy’s and Coldstone - all have come into the local market in the last three years without as much as a squel from any of the local awareness groups. Lets pick on Wal-mart. Why? Seriously - look at any major company in the US and you can make them sound as evil as Wal-mart does. Don’t go turning the biggest retailer into a bad buy just to not teach the other ones a lesson - it’s just like going after Microsoft when everyone does the same illegal and assenine things.

I’m personally happy that we’re getting a Supercenter Walmart on the south side of town. It is questionable if this town needs it but what I do know that this town does need is a traffic change - the east side of town is crowded enough and now the roads are really starting to strain. This will give some other place for everyone in South Fairbanks, North Pole and Chena Hills to go to for food and one-stop-shopping. It’ll also jumpstart a new retail region of town - something we need to do cause we’re running out of space fast on the east side. I’m also happy that Old Navy has opened now - now I can actually shop for clothes in town without having to pay Fred Meyer prices! As soon as Barnes and Noble’s opens I’ll have a place to buy new books that isn’t in Anchorage. And guess what? THis means I won’t have to drive to Anchorage any time I really feel like shopping! I’m glad all these places are opening - although it sucks that I’m trying to save at the same time we have more retail choices opening, it does give me less reasons to splurge when I do head down to Anchorage!