Justin Germino Ramblings

I was reading in the CG Times magazine that it is being considered to build a 225mph high speed rail system between Phoenix and Tucson. This rail system would have an inside track and would take only 30 minutes to transport people between the cities instead of the two hour drive that exists now.

The outside rails would take an hour but make stops in Casa Grande and Eloy. With a proposed electric rental car at each station this is a promising alternative for people to commute between the cities and to make things even more green, this entire rail system is intended to be Solar Powered. With power collected during the day stored to power the rail at night.

I for one am for bullet train systems between cities, I thing efficient mass transit systems will reduce emissions and get people more active. Coming from NY where I bused, or rode a train everywhere, my family didn’t even own a car until I was 15 because you can get everywhere via mass transit.

I wish they would make a bullet train route between Phoenix and San Diego, I would go at least once a month if it only took 2 hours instead of 5 hours to get there. That would save me almost as much money as a free stay at a hotel by not spending so much on gas.

-Justin Germino

I am not perfect and no normal relationship doesn’t have the occasional discussion turned argument so when this happens to occur in your relationship and you realize things got a little overheated and words said that maybe were hurtful or emotions too strong and things blown out of proportion make sure you follow up with a true apology to ensure the healing process begins.

Remember, stubbornness has no place in a relationship it takes two people to bicker and fight and no matter which party is right or wrong both parties had a part to play in the argument. Don’t just spout a half hearted apology, if you feel you really should apologize then do it with some class.

It is not out of style to go out and buy your lover a dozen roses and a formal card to apologize, and doing this once and a while will really show that you meant your apology and are sincere. Don’t over do it or do it for every argument or the gesture will become less meaningful over time, but when you truly feel like a heel and want to show it then go the extra mile.

Most importantly remind your partner of how much they mean to you and that you both are only human and growing and learning is part of every relationship whether it be two months ago or twenty years ago that you both first got together.

Never take each other for granted and never just ignore a fight and move on without both coming together and realizing it was wrong, ignoring and never apologizing will lead to disconnected feelings and can very much hurt the relationship in short and long term.

-Justin Germino

You decide which I am suffering from now since I am heavily active on Twitter I find myself no longer finding time to queue extra blog posts, but I seem to be enjoying the conversations and playing my own Random Twitter Word poetry game on Twitter. So why is twitter so addicting you ask?

It allows you to just join any chat anytime anywhere and voice your point of view, opinion and joining conversations can be contagious. I also use it to ask questions and usually find pretty decent answers to my questions too. This type of tool is only furthering the connection of everyone in the world being in communication with each other at the same time.

Distance is meaningless in a free for all communication between the more than ten million people who are already using Twitter, and you can find new fans of the same things, friends, or even people living in your own neighborhood that you don’t know. By reading IZEA’s blog about funny random tweets, I found and followed somebody who only lived twenty miles away from me, what were the odds?

At least I found time to write this blog post, now back to my Random Twitter Poetry Game.

If you haven’t played, you should follow me (@dragonblogger) on Twitter, its a fun game where I craft an original poem including the random words provided to me on twitter.

-Justin Germino

Seriously how many times are we told to respect our elder generation yet it would seem the latest crop of elderly have absolutely no tolerance for children anymore. I mean back in the olden days I understand that families would not eat at restaurants, only adults would eat at typical dining establishments.

But now there are “Family Friendly” restaurants like all the major chains, not fine dining establishments, these restaurants cater to children with crayons, kids menu’s and the like. So why is it whenever I am out sometimes and my two year old and five year old are being kids, I get the nasty looks and backhanded comments?

Really do you know any two year olds who don’t climb under the table and back up between booths to alternate between sitting next to mommy and daddy? Do you know any five year olds who don’t talk excitedly and want to show you what they draw all the time? I find there are two types of elderly people, those who love children and little ones remind them of their grandkids, and then those who detest children acting like they are a disease or blight on human kind.

These people really need to start looking at colon cleanse reviews and get the bugs out of their bums.

-Justin Germino

I used to be known for always having warm hands and my wife would be cold and always would come up to me and use my hands to warm her own cold hands in the winter and at night. Unfortunately over the past two years I have developed the exact opposite where my hands are perpetually cold now and I can’t say I am not disappointed.

I since did some research about the subject and read that there are several reasons for people to have cold hands, these can include caffeine intake, anxiety, stress and other mental issues or intake of chemicals that can constrict blood vessels, but I haven’t changed my caffeine pattern in two years. The symptom fits my weight loss and working out regimen.

I have lost around fifty pounds in two years and with it some body heat was lost as a result, in addition with working out particularly when you use weights and hand grips you can develop your muscles in your wrist which will expand and can contract the blood vessels in your wrist which reduces the blood flow into the hands. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I should have looked for best diet pills instead of losing weight through exercise.

While this doesn’t cause any significant long term problems that I am aware of, it does have the side effect of less blood flow to the hands which leads to cold hands. Now I always have to think about my cold hands before touching my wife’s shoulder, arm or hands and I often run them under hot water, or heat them up by holding a hot cup of tea.

Kind of a shame, I miss my warm hands.

-Justin Germino

One of the hardest things about being a parent of two boys who are ages five and two is to balance my time between them so neither child feels like they are not getting as much attention from their father. I can’t do the same activities with my five year old as my two year old in some cases, so I do my best to devote some personal one on one time to both children.

Sure, when we rough house, wrestle and chase each other around the house I can include both at the same time, but when it comes to playing the Wii or board games, my two year old is left unable to participate. (He already ruined two of my wiimotes by teething on the connectors and rotting them out).

One lucky break I have is spending 1/2 hour alone time every Monday night with my two year old while my five year old is in drum lessons, I take him next door to a local Jeepers playhouse and go on rides with him and let him run around. We enjoy this little Monday activity and I have a smile on my face the whole time.

My oldest gets more of my time during the weeknights and weekends and I love playing with both of my children. Sometimes I can get engaged in playing with them so much I can lose hours on the weekends lost in play and not get any house work done.

-Justin Germino

I finally got around to uploading the highlight pics from the Tucson Zoo, these were taken with a borrowed camera and I did the best I could with the FujiFilm FinePix, but I do miss my Canon Digital Rebel XT for sure. Still, some of the pics came out pretty good and you can see just how close the Tucson Zoo lets you get to the animals which is pretty cool.

Enjoy the slideshow, let me know what you think of it.

-Justin Germino

I don’t know why but Pepperoni has been one of my compulsions and “treats” ever since I was a child, many people have “Chocolate”, “Donuts”, “Cake” or another form of sweet treat, I would rather eat pepperoni and some sharp aged swiss cheese on a platter over any sugary pie, cake or treat any day.

So it was with great pleasure that today I made a Pepperoni and Swiss cheese sandwich with spicy Deli mustard on Double Fiber wheat bread by Orowheat (This bread as 6 grams of fiber per slice). I chowed down and ate 3/4 of a Red Bell pepper (raw) on the side as a snack to get Vitamin C and such.

Of course if I keep eating these type of foods I may want to start checking out more diet pill reviews in a few weeks. I workout more and I am fitter than I was years ago, but I still can’t help but have some “bad” food every once and a while.

-Justin Germino

We decided to do something different for Easter this year with the family, so we took the kids and parents to a western restaurant in Phoenix called Rustler’s Rooste. The drive was about 55 minutes each way from Casa Grande, but we decided to take a chance. When we arrived at almost noon we pulled up to a large restaurant that is built onto the side of a rock formation.

The Easter brunch buffet was satisfactory is about the best I could say for the experience. The few food stations they have are poorly arranged which creates long lines and confusion as to where the stations are and what is served at them. The food itself was not bad, but not great. It was no better or more varied that the local Golden Corral restaurant in Casa Grande.

The biggest problem is how many rude people were encountered and then the sticker shock of the bill. Seriously an elderly woman who was probably older than sixty was shoving into my five year old son and was telling the line to move along. The chaos and rudeness of dozens of people cutting in line, or growling at each other over the wait reminded me of a pit of dogs fighting over the same food bowls.

To make matters worse when the bill came to $130 for 4 adults with tip, I was astounded that we drove almost an hour each way to eat buffet food that was no better quality and twice as expensive than if I stayed and ate locally.

I don’t know if the dinner steakhouse menu is better, but we were all disappointed overall. There are way better buffets and steakhouses to eat at like Cork and Cleaver, Lonestar for steakhouses and Home Town Buffet or Golden Corral for buffet restaurants.

Ah well, at least it made a blog post.

PS. My two sons are still sick and I hope they feel better, I may have to take off a day at work to take them to doctor this week with my wife.

-Justin Germino