Justin Germino Ramblings

Well its official, though I own a Wii and love my Nintendo Wii, after seeing the trailer for Final Fantasy XIII, I must eventually get a PS3 for when the game comes out. Fortunately it has no release date yet in the United States, which gives me time to save up some blog money. I have been a Final Fantasy fan since NES days, and loved Final Fantasy X, X-II and XII for the PlayStation 2. The only Final Fantasy version I didn’t get into was the FFXI online MMO game because I didn’t want to get into a monthly fee based game. Final Fantasy XIII will only be released for the PS3 and Xbox360, and since I wanted a Blu Ray player anyway, I probably will get a PS3. So check out this original trailer showing Final Fantasy XIII in Japanese, the animation sequences rival that of even the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Advent Children movies.

Life is hard, too hard sometimes and even though you toil day after day, week after week you find yourself barely making ends meet, struggling to keep your family cared for and happy only to feel like you are breaking even. Emotional toils run across the board and everyone can feel on the brink, suffering from stress for an almost infinite number of reasons.

The hardest thing to do is step back and re-examine your situation with a clear head, moments of hopelessness come and go, and stress, anxiety and worry all wax and wane like the tides. You need to step back and take a clear balanced look at what is the root cause, and try to find a resolution.

Set a goal and create baby steps on how to get there, doesn’t matter what stress or anxiety in your life is getting you down, the same rule applies to everything. There is nothing you can’t at least start doing some small thing each day or week to slowly overcome the issue at hand.

There is always a way to unbury yourself, and there is always a solution even if it isn’t a convenient or easy one to your problems, but sometimes the solution is hard to see. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and this includes your partner, a loved one, family member, clergy member, close friend, or even professionals depending on the type of difficulty you are experiencing.

Like the symbolic cat picture hanging from a tree, Hang In There Baby…. there is always a solution, you just need to step back and find it.

-Justin Germino

My family decided to take the boys and the dogs up for a drive to northern Arizona to do a day of fishing, where we will spend most of the day in around 80 degree weather while people roast in 107 or higher temperatures down in Phoenix. We will stop and probably watch a fireworks display in Payson and be back home in Casa Grande by midnight.

Figured it would be a nice way to kill the day, my boys love to fish and catch crayfish with nets, as well as bug hunt up in the woods. The dogs love camping as well, I don’t mind a two hour drive each way when you have a car DVD system to keep the boys entertained.

Everyone have a happy and safe 4th of July, and don’t play with fireworks, seriously I grew up in New York where I used to light fireworks as a kid and I would never let my kids do it, my parents were CRAZY for letting my brother and I play with firecrackers, jumping jacks, roman candles and more when we were younger. It just isn’t worth the risk, too many people get injured every year.

-Justin Germino

Celery is the only food that takes more calories to digest than it contains averaging about 6 calories a stalk, but burning almost twice that in the digestion process since the celluloid fibers are so tough to break down. This does not mean you will lose weight eating celery, but it does mean if you eat lots of celery in addition to other food in smaller amounts your diet could be augmented so that you will intake less calories and lose weight as a result.

So while other people can try some of the latest weight loss products like Solo Slim, you can try something different. Add celery as a side to lunch and dinner and eat the celery first and slowly. This will help you feel fuller and you will eat less calorie dense food.

Here are some other celery facts:

• Celery seeds and oils are often used in weight loss products, but they contain androstenone which can stimulate the uterus and should not be used by pregnant women. Seeds and oil produced from the seeds also contian Bergapten which increases photosensitivity making you more prone to sunburn, so you should avoid direct sunlight if taking any celery derived supplements.

• Note, you don’t have these risks from eating the stalks as a side in the meal, it is only the high concentrations of crushed celery seeds that pose these risks.

• Celery, is one of the ingredients (Onions and Bell Peppers the other two) to make up the Holy Trinity of Cajun cuisine.

• Celery actually has an allergy risk and can make some people go into anaphylactic shock for a small minority of people. The allergen is not destroyed at cooking temperatures. Celery allergy is more prevalent in central Europe than in the United States, where Peanut allergies are most common.

• The longest celery stalks can reach around 3 feet in height, that is a huge stalk.

-Justin Germino

A good friend of mine is selling his custom chopper named “SLAKR” after several years of touring it at bike shows across the country. Slakr has been featured in several magazines including Rumble, V-Twin and been showcased on the Paul Yaffe Originals website.

Slakr was a Harley Davidson Softail Custom FXSTC that was reborn into the head turning, jaw dropping customized Harley Davidson that it is today.

SLAKR was on display at the 2007 Las Vegas Bike Fest custom bike show where it garnered several attention and several offers, but the owner didn’t want to sell at the time.

If you are a Harley Davidson fan looking for a one of a kind unique custom hog, check out SLAKR, the owner promises no reasonable offer will be refused.

To learn more about SLAKR and contact the owner, visit SLAKR.com.

-Justin Germino

So I take a lunch break this week and next week to take my sons to swim classes, I get in with my two year old and I can’t help but be a little self conscious by my stomach flab while getting in the pool with my kids. I try not to be self conscious and worry about it, after all nobody should stress out over what other people may think about how they look and what not, but I want to keep myself in fairly good physical condition for many reasons including health benefits and being attractive to my wife…etc.

We all want to lose some weight, and there are dozens of products including Decaslim which may assist, but in the end, only changing your eating habits and exercise will give you a sustainable weight loss you can be comfortable with.

-Justin Germino

I realize I have no room to put all my Wii accessories somewhere out of reach from my two year old, and where they can be easily organized. I have to install wall shelves next to my television, I originally had velcro holding the wiimotes to the wall, but the nunchuck cords would hang down and my son would tear them from the wall.

With 3 Wii Motes, nunchucks, guitar controller, Wii Zapper, fifteen games, wireless GameCube controller, I just don’t have a good idea on how to organize all of this stuff. I want to eventually get rid of the TV and put in an LCD TV mounted on the wall with an LCD mount that hangs higher than sitting level. I always play the Wii standing up, but the TV is lower to the ground so my neck and eyes are always looking down at the screen, and I wish it were mounted at eye level.

Ah well, will have to buy some mountable wall shelves and put them up next week next to the television I suppose. That takes care of everything except the Guitar controller, which though tiny, is too big for a simple wall shelf.

-Justin Germino

I watched an episode of Raising The Bar on TNT this Monday which had a very controversial topic that can be applied to everyone who runs a blog or social network site.  In this episode, a father was brought up on charges for posting a picture of his toddler in the bath tube naked. An internet X-rated website had stolen the image from his social site and sold it online.  The father was charged with all sorts of crimes including child endangerment, sexual misconduct among others. Ignorance of what happened with the innocent photo was not sufficient defense.

This episode was powerful, strong and emotionally charged. I sided with the law, though I sympathize with the father.  The internet is a dangerous place for online predators, when you knowingly post an even innocent image on a public website, it can be stolen and used for nefarious purposes, and knowing this it is our responsibility to minimize these risks.  I have seen bloggers and people post pictures of their little children on their MySpace pages or blogs, there is nothing wrong with that, however I don’t think under any circumstances someone should post an unclothed picture of their child online. Even if it is a baby picture in the tub, sink or getting a diaper changed.

These photos are innocent to the common people and the loving parents that take them, but they are not to the people who would steal them and list them on other pornographic websites. As a result it is just poor judgement to post such pictures on public sites.  As parents we all make judgement calls on many issues surrounding our children, and this is one call where you need to err on the side of caution.

Since I was a kid I have loved the Monkey Island series by Lucas Arts on the Commodore 64 and Amiga computers, it was a classic pirate story that was done before Pirates of the Caribbean became popular. As you played the hero “Guybrush Threepwood” who was a bumbling newbie who had to learn the ways of the pirate to rescue his gal from the clutches of the evil “Le Chuck” a skeletal undead pirate.

The game was a classic and pioneered (along with LOOM) the side scrolling adventure genre where you moved from screen to screen to find clues, solve complex problems and had selectable dialogue choices. Many games were inspired by the series, and you don’t have nearly as many games in this category that are as original and fresh.

I was excited to find out that LucasArts updated the series with all new graphics, voice work, and I am eager to dive again into a game that I remember from when I was ten years old and I haven’t seen or played in almost twenty years.

-Justin Germino