Top Ten Snack Items While Watching TV

I was reading a Top Ten list over on Mary’s Madness and decided to join her creative spark and make a top ten list of my own.

Here would be my top ten snack items to eat while watching TV (I rotate through these quite frequently)

#1 – Pepperoni, Cheese and Crackers

This is a staple of mine, and I can’t help but eat sliced pepperoni, aged Swiss with some butter crackers or toasted whole wheat ones. Yep, I am going to die of a heart attack when I am forty probably, but this is one snack I can’t deny myself every once and a while.

#2 – Pretzels

I rotate between pretzel rods, twists, sour dough, mini’s and even Goldfish pretzels which are really good and buttery. Makes you drink a lot more while eating them though.

#3 – Cheerios

Ironic that my first two items are so unhealthy and my third isn’t so bad for you. I like just eating dry handfuls of Cheerios or multi grain cheerios, both make a good snack and healthier than Chex mix.

#4 – Frozen Pizza

I won’t lie, more than a few times my wife and I will pop a frozen pizza in the oven at 9pm and eat it as a snack during a late night movie or TV show marathon.

#5 – Grapes or Raisins

I love eating red grapes, or midnight grapes and often will just pick and plop handfuls while watching TV or a show. Again this is one of the few healthy snacks on my list.

#6 – Cheez-it Party Mix

Something about this particular party mix makes it taste so good, the fact that it has Cheez-its plus those little crunchy bagel bite thingies, and the saltiness and sweet combined with the cheddar always makes me crave this one.

#7 – Kettle Corn

I love popped Kettle Corn and there are a few good brands out there that are microwavable. I like the sweet taste of kettle korn more than the buttery taste of regular popcorn. I even like the light 100 calorie packs so this makes it a not to unhealthy snack.

#8 – Bowl of Cereal

My wife is a huge fan of eating a bowl of Fiber One or another cereal sometimes during a snack. I myself am lactose intolerant but have on more than one occasion enjoyed a bowl of cereal with soy milk (which tastes great by the way). This is another not so unhealthy option if you choose a healthy cereal, a bowl of Lucky Charms not so much.

#9 – Potato Chips

Salt and Vinegar or Cracked Black Pepper, or even Mesquite BBQ. Sometimes nothing takes the place of some potato chips while watching a movie or show.

#10 – Taco Bell

Since having kids we don’t do nearly as many Taco Bell runs at night as we used to after the go to sleep. We used to just pick up a couple of burrito’s or Nachos Bellgrande at like 9pm and chow down during a movie occasionally.

Now, don’t think I go through this list every night. I only have a snack at night maybe two or three times a week and more often than not it is one of the healthier choices, but everything in moderation and you won’t do too much damage on your body and still enjoy the pleasure of eating some junk food

-Justin Germino

Dog Guilty Until Proven Innocent

My family had a little bit of a scary incident yesterday involving my Boston Terrier dog Porky. I was outside working on the trailer and this stray Jack Russel terrier mix had come up to our house and was playing nicely with my kids and dogs. I don’t know where the dog came from, but it didn’t seem harmful and my dog played pretty nice with him, until it went along its way. About an hour later my Mother in Law had taken my kids and dog for a walk (the dog was leashed) and while they were around the block a police officer had come by asking if we had seen a black and white dog. We mentioned about the Jack Russel terrier mix we saw earlier and he had informed us that a dog had bit a kid on the hand.

The worst part was when my Mother in Law came back to our house with our Boston Terrier who is black and white the Police officer had asked if our dog was leashed the whole time and since a black and white small dog was reported the office asked to have our dog brought over for the kid to identify if it was the dog who bit him.

This poor little dog wouldn’t bite anything or anyone, he hasn’t a mean bone in his body and he was guilty until proven innocent:

Meanwhile, the kid at first said “It looks like the dog” which had us panicked before the kid finally acknowledged it only looked like it because of the black and white, it wasn’t the dog that bit him in the hand. The kid must have only been eight or nine years of age, and I can see how kids can see a dog and any dog black and white “looks” like another dog. The officer let us and our dog go, but for a brief moment my wife and I were panicked about what almost could have happened.

Be careful out there with your pets folks, make sure they are leashed at all times and don’t run free. Even if you have the friendliest dog in the word, when a dog around the neighborhood bites someone it can make everyone be on alert and if you have a dog wandering or a dog that even is close in appearance to another dog, you might be blamed.

-Justin Germino

Time to Finish the Trailer

So last summer we picked up a cheap boat trailer that was unregistered and a little rusty, but we put a good 1st coat of white paint on it and now all it needs is a second coat with some carpet stapled on it, new winch rope and some chains repaired.  I am also going to install the light kit, then my wife can start the registration process so that we can have the trailer registered in time for when we get our boat.  We know we want a 14′ aluminum boat, nothing fancy but something that will allow us to fish in the deeper areas of Woods Canyon and Willow Springs lake because the banks are just overcrowded lately and we have had little success fishing off the banks in recent years.

I always thought it was a little ironic to own a boat in the middle of the desert.

-Justin Germino

Spray on Liquid Glass: Endless Possibilities

A friend of mine forwarded me a link to the article on PhysOrg.com about a Spray on Glass Liquid that is transparent, non-toxic, odorless, flexible, breathable and can bond with almost any surface.  Liquid glass was invented in Turkey and the patent is held by Nanopool which is a German company.

This liquid glass is only about 100 nanometers thick which is about 15-30 molecules and is made of pure silica, no additives it truly is glass that is such a thin coating that it is completely flexible and breathable.  Studies have shown that countertops sprayed with this glass coating can be cleaned with just hot water, without the need for harsh chemicals to kill bacteria.  In addition you can coat a house roof, cars and other objects with the spray on glass that would create a water proof, UV protected, scratch and stain proof coating that was so thin it would be invisible to the naked eye.

The liquid glass coating is breathable, which means it can be used on plants and seeds. Trials in vineyards have found spraying vines increases their resistance to fungal diseases, while other tests have shown sprayed seeds germinate and grow faster than untreated seeds, and coated wood is not attacked by termites.

Think of the possibilities

• Coating for cars so that you will never get scratches in your paint again, nor ever get rust.
• UV protection for your roof which would insulate and keep your roof lasting so much longer, rain would slide off your roof so much easier with a liquid glass coating
• Clothing sprayed with liquid glass would be stain proof and water proof, the material would never get wet and no stain could ever penetrate the cloth.
• Cutting Boards and other kitchen counter area’s would be easier to keep sanitary and clean, this would be especially useful in commercial kitchens

I think this may be one of the most revolutionary products that is about to make it to market in the next few years and you will start seeing liquid glass applicators for just about every object you can think of.   This is something to watch folks, this is going to be big.

On another note:

Nanotechnology and research into nano-particles is not very efficient, if this product were used on cutting boards we know that silica itself is nontoxic, but at this nano scale inhaling and ingesting nano particles could cause them to lodge into cell membranes in the body and nobody really knows what the side effects could be if nano particles were to contaminate the human body and start collecting in or around cell structures.  This is true even of those micro scrubbing pads and makeup with nano particles of diamond dust or other materials.  I myself wonder if twenty years from now there is going to be a huge “recall” of nano products because of the damage caused over the years of inhaling nano chemicals and components as a result.  I would hope much more research gets done to make sure the liquid glass nano-particles are safe if ingested and inhaled because if it is going to be used to sanitize countertops and food stations, then little microscopic bits are going to break off and get lodged in food and water and will make its way into the human GI tract at some point.

-Justin Germino

Running Barefoot Healthier Than Running in Shoes

In an unusual article published on DailyTech titled Running Barefoot Better Than Wearing Running Shoes there was a study done that shows that runners who were barefoot had a completely different running style of front pad touch down first instead of heel first, as a result this put much less stress on the hips, feet and legs and lowered the chances of stress fractures and tears greatly.  I found some of the comments on the article amusing like “You mean bare feet actually are more optimal for the body than running in shoes?” you would think this is common sense as shoes were added to protect the feet from injury and scrapes from walking on ground.

Obviously runners can’t just jog or run in open sidewalks and streets without shoes, but this is something to consider when using a treadmill at home or if you are running on beaches or softer ground.  It is healthier on your feet and body overall to run on your treadmill barefoot than to wear shoes while using one. I myself use a stepper and since my feet never actually leave the ground I don’t think it will provide any specific benefit to my own exercising, but I should walk barefoot more around the house. My wife is always telling me not to walk with my shoes on all the time. (But I do it because we find two to three scorpions per month on the floor and I would rather be safe than sorry).

-Justin Germino

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