Justin Germino Ramblings

So my loving Boston Terrier who is no longer a pup has what appears to be spinal degeneration and even though he is in much better shape now than he was a few weeks ago, he still has partial paralysis in his right rear leg and has trouble standing or falls over occasionally when he gets too spunky or over jumpy.

The vet recommended we keep him relatively docile in his old age and not encourage him to jump or play rough anymore. He is only 8 years old and it is sad to see him become this way, we considered putting him on some pet supplements to see if it would help increase his energy and vitality, but the vet pretty much said there isn’t much we can do but give him a comfortable life.

That being said he still sleeps in bed with us, I let him outside often to go to the restroom and his energy and health have improved tremendously since a few weeks ago. He has no signs of tumor, infection or any other ailment other than his weakening spine. The vet seemed to believe that he must have jumped and injured his spine while in the yard the other week, so he could recover in 8-12 weeks and regain feeling in his foot. It isnt completely paralyzed he can move it, walk on it and such but it is very numb. He can’t feel if you pinch it and he has poor reflexes when you perform certain tests with his rear foot.

Meanwhile the dog is still our beloved pet and his quality of life is a little slower paced, but he still gets love and is able to function and enjoy the families affection. He also doesn’t appear to be in any pain, so we are just glad he is okay for now and will continue to provide for him.

-Justin Germino

So for my lunch break today I have to go to the dentist and get some x-rays and my teeth cleaned.  Routine checkup and cleaning twice a year but its funny how I dread just losing an hour of my day to attend to what is actually an important health item.  I actually am like “great, I can’t believe I have to lose an hour” like what is more important than keeping your teeth healthy and clean to avoid problems later?  I find that many people get so busy with work and home, that they come to hate or dread just taking a few hours to take care of their health, have a checkup, physical or in my case today dental checkup and cleaning.

We are all busy and that is a fact of life, but try not to be so harsh on taking a break now and again to keep yourself checked out, well and carve out some time to get checked out.  Better to get a clean bill of health now than have a problem discovered a year later that could have been avoided early.

So I breath in and exhale, one hour out of my day sitting in a dental chair isn’t going to kill me.  I will just sit back, relax and try not to think about all of the things I could be doing at work, or blogging at home, or an extra hour I could spend hanging around the house with my wife at the same time.

-Justin Germino

I am busy these last few days working on adding Social Networking buttons to all of my web sites, and I will have them up pretty soon on 3 of my 4 blogs.  These will include buttons to LinkedIn, Twitter, Plurk, Zimbio, BlogCatalog, Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, YouTube and any other social networks that I belong to and collect friends on.  I am becoming very active in the social network seen and whether you are one of my 500+ followers on Twitter, or a connection on LinkedIn, feel free to follow and connect with me on any and all social networks that you belong to.  I try to keep consistant with my online ID across the board.  I am known as Dragonblogger on every service except LinkedIn which I use as my professional work and use my real name.

Once I get my buttons established I look forward to building more connections with my readers and fellow bloggers.

-Justin Germino

One thing I remembered is how simple touches can add elegance to your home and really make it feel as if it “IS” your home and yours. Customizing and adding the simplest of touches can do wonders, one of the things we did in our last home is to put in custom industrial knobs in the kitchen cabinets. We had an assortment of knife, fork and spoon knobs and handles that I installed on all the kitchen drawers and cabinet doors. These brushed steel handles and knobs gave a real sense of class and style to the kitchen.

There was a downside of course, I would accidentally bump into the knobs and get a fork handle jabbing me in the hip bone or the buttock occasionally. At least the knives were butter knives not steak knife handles or else I could have been in real trouble. In our newer house the cabinets were all upgraded and so nice looking we didn’t want to drill holes in them to install the knobs and handles.

My point is though customizing simple things like cabinets with unique handles, change the paper tower rolls, or toilet paper rolls with unique designs. Unique towel racks, or shelving all add a unique sense of style to your home.

-Justin Germino

I want to say that there are way too many divorces that occur in the country now  a days, people have given up on “working at a marriage” and are so eager to take flight the moment they deal with an issue that is complicated, hard or they feel like giving up.  I do believe that divorce is an option under certain circumstances including anything like “Abuse, Domestic Violence” or children are at risk, but barring physical or mental abuse or health there should be things taken into consideration.

Financial issues are among the top reasons for getting divorced and ironically are one of the top reasons why people are devastated following divorce financially.  Another major one is fidelity, cheating, dishonesty or lying.

Your significant other should be a transparent window to you vice versa, nobody should get married unless they not only know about each other, but know how each other feels and thinks about certain things.  One of the key ways to accomplish this is through open communication, take the time to ask your partner the tough questions or ones you wouldn’t have thought to ask.  Ask them how they feel about religion, marriage, kids, sex, adult movies, strip clubs, Internet dating, social networks…etc.

You see where I am going with this it never hurts to ask your partner how they feel about anything and what is their take and opinion on anything and everything you can think of, learn early on what your partner’s point of view is on these things and these can become foundations to strengthen the relationship, or if your girlfriend/partner has differing opinion or point of view on certain topics you can share your own and find a compromise in the middle if there can be one found.

Marriage is about giving not taking, if both sides give then both sides receive, if one side gives and the other side takes then the marriage is out of balance and is destined to have problems and issues.  Communication is key, never assume your partner thinks a certain way unless you have asked.  Even worse, if you know your partner is against certain things you must be honest and open about how you feel.  Lying is never okay in a relationship even when many people lie to spare another person’s feelings, this in the end can only cause worse issues and weaken the marriage.

Marriages are complicated, hard and require a lot of effort, consideration and commitment.  But the reward can be a thousand times better than the work put into it, as long as both sides are equals and are true to each other and have open and honest communication.  It is never too late to open up to your partner and never too late to start fresh and build a healthier and stronger relationship.

-Justin Germino

My wife has had several recipe’s published in various magazines over the years.  She has also won two contests and competitions including one from Shamrock Farms and another from her Culinary Federation chapter.  She won a year’s supply of dairy products a few years ago from the Shamrock Farms one.  Now she has had her 2nd recipe published in Taste of Home magazine, and we were both surprised and happy to see it arrive in the mail on Friday.

I am sharing this recipe with my readers:  (Click for Larger Image and to actually read the recipe)

-Justin Germino

I just got back an hour ago from eating at Mimi’s Cafe in Casa Grande, AZ over at the Promenade Mall.  I do like Mimi’s and eat there fairly regularly, at least 2x per month I would say.  Their bread basket has only the freshest tasting breads, and they have a very nice menu combining some traditional items with some more fusion and modern items.  I had the Hibachi salmon which had among the best flavor I could ask for, the only problem was 1/2 way through eating the Salmon the other part of my Salmon was almost completely raw and mushy to the fork touch.  I hope I don’t get sick, it isn’t treated salmon like sushi grade salmon is.

The flavor was great, the Sweet Ginger glaze does a great job, I would have had them remake the dish except I had eaten most of it already and was already almost full.  The cod fillet that my wife ordered was also very good, lemon flavored and tender, just a bit bland (which isn’t a bad thing).  The kids enjoyed the Pepperoni Pizzadilla’s that they ordered, kind of like a pizza rolled in a Quesadilla.

I would recommend Mimi’s Cafe, but when ordering the salmon ask that it is cooked well but not overcooked.

-Justin Germino

When I am feeling tired and iced tea or caffeine just isn’t enough to give me a boost, I resort to doing a little physical exertion.  Get my heart pumping as quickly as possible, I don’t have a lot of time to spend and my day job keeps me sitting.  So I have gotten creative with some ways to get my blood pumping quickly and as a result I get a quick almost immediate energy boost within about five to ten minutes after I do it.

Jog up and down a flight of stairs, now I am much more fit than I used to be, so I would have to go up and down a single flight of stairs about 10 times or 15 times in order to get my blood pumping and heart racing fast enough.  So I added a new trick, I carry one 25 pound dumbbells in each hand firmly and then jog up and down a flight of stairs.  Voila, 5 times up and down a flight of stairs and my heart is pounding and my thighs are as if I had climbed 25 flights of steps.  If you are stronger and have more endurance just increase the weight of the dumbbells you carry.

This isn’t just cardio but is great for your thighs and legs as well, but if you have weak ankles or knee’s beware that the extra weight can put some strain.  Also I do this for a quick boost of energy not as a long term workout, but it does do a good job.  I had a boost of energy for about an hour or so.

Just one of my little tips to fit in a spot of exercise wherever you can.

-Justin Germino

I always enjoy going out for a night on the town with my wife and tomorrow we grab a bunch of friends and carpool to Martini Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona where we will see on of our favorite local rock bands Vayden.  Vayden’s music can be heard on Sirius Octane radio “Children of Our Mistakes” is the name of their album and most popular single but virtually every track on their album is incredible.  They have already done a tour last year with Tantric and I expect to see them rise in fame and popularity around the country in 2009.

-Justin Germino

So I was dropping EC’s and actually reached over 600 EC’s last night and found out some common elements in blogs that I find most disturbing.  The primary being that some blogs have a need to deceive the entrecard logo, and put a fake one at the top of the blog, or in a post and the real one hidden somewhere else.  This can confuse you and is misleading the dropper to create false clicks, I don’t appreciate this kind of deception and try to flag blogs that do this so I will not visit them again. One went so far as to put a completely fake Entrecard with a link to another one of their blogs, while the real entrecard was hidden somewhere else.

I like performing EC dropping as when I see blogs that I like, and have similar content to what I publish on my blogs, I usually will purchase an Entrecard advertisement on those blogs.  I also like to leave comments on posts that capture my interest, and I have been known to stumble or Digg or even tweet somebody else’s post if I felt like sharing it.  I posted someone else’s blog post with a cat picture for example last night.

Word to Entrecard users, have some EC Etiquette and don’t deceive your droppers with false badges or multiple badges.

-Justin Germino