Justin Germino Ramblings

Seriously, I am like your stereotypical guy that you see portrayed on shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. I don’t buy clothing unless my existing clothing is literally torn to shreds. My wife poked fun at me that I only have like 3 pairs of white socks left, not even enough for a full week. I am also down to only two pairs of shorts that fit me.

So with a quick trip up to the department store I protested but was forced to buy two pairs of shorts and a ten pack of socks. Part of the reason why I lost a whole wardrobe of clothes is I used to be a size 40 about two years ago, and then dropped enough weight that at one point I was down to a size 32. Now I am up to a size 34 again, which I may need to take some weight loss pills to get that under control.

So I kept donating every set of clothes as I grew or shrunk out of them, this left me with very few articles of clothing that was in my size. Since I telecommute and am very lazy, I don’t need a vast array of clothing, I wear just casual wear around the house and do laundry every three days or so.

Meanwhile, my wife almost moved my limited amount of supplies out of the closet so she can have more room, she has so many clothes that the hanging rod is buckling in the center and will probably snap or bow so badly it will fall out of place by the end of the year.

-Justin Germino

I learned something new this weekend after reading an article in the Casa Grande Dispatch newspaper. A high school student proposed an idea in Arizona that is both green and will save space and provide a great commodity for the community. This idea is called vertical farming and is not new, but hasn’t been put into as wide practice as it should be in the U.S.

Vertical Farming is basically skyscraper structures where farms are planted on each floor of the facility, so that the farms are layered vertically toward the sky instead of horizontally along the ground. This saves on an enormous amount of land space, and because the farms are indoor this saves on pest control costs, fertilizer, water costs, and eliminates carbon emissions due to old style farm and tractor equipment.

The best thing about vertical farming from this high school students plan was that with Solar Panels on the roof, and something called Dynamic Structure where each floor rotates so that the maximum amount of sunlight is achieved for growth the building is almost completely self sufficient. Recycled rainwater and drain water throughout the building could also increase efficiency.

This allows farming and yields 6x as often as planting crops in the ground and traditional farming and in the long haul is the best way to accommodate the rapid growth of human beings on the planet. I have rationalized all of this and agree that this is the wave of the future, we need to be more efficient with our land space on this planted and building vertical is the best way to make efficient use of the land space.

You can read more about Vertical Farming here on the wiki, I encourage you do some research yourself as I believe this is the future of farming and crop production.

-Justin Germino

Most of the time when I have traveled to Las Vegas, California, Hawaii, Florida, and even my trip coming up to Cabo, I always stay in hotels. However, one time I did stay on Pacific Beach in California in a rental property for a week.

I found from experience that some of the value with renting a property vs. a hotel is you can often get weekly rates at half the cost if you were to stay in a hotel. You can also save money buy purchasing groceries and cooking in, rather than dining out which is much more expensive.

I also found that renting properties is better than hotels when traveling with large families, that way you call can rent a multi-bedroom establishment instead of having to pay for two or more hotel rooms.

So it doesn’t matter if you are looking for Outer Banks rentals, or other types of rental properties, know that you can save some money when renting for an extended vacation instead of spending more at a hotel. Some rental arrangements even have cleaners that come in every few days so it is even closer to being like a hotel.

-Justin Germino

It doesn’t matter whether you are a support of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, or the work being done in Afghanistan. Simply put people who lay their lives on the line in order to serve this country and put the nation above their personal lives are to be respected for their commitment unconditionally.

Families who go through the hardship of raising children alone or partially alone while a spouse or partner is overseas are to be respected for believing, supporting and getting through the tough times. Everyone is affected in a family when one person in that family serves.

My thoughts and best wishes go out to the over 5600 service members and their families who have lost their lives over the past years in Iraq and Afghanistan and also I take a moment to remember every soldier who has lost their life in support of promoting freedom, including World War 1 and World War 2.

My Great Grandmother who I only knew for the first five years of my life had told me a story once when I was in Kindergarten about how she lived in Poland during the WWI invasion and what it was like for German soldiers to storm the streets and buildings where she and her family lived. I barely remember the story but I remember the emotion she had on her face, when she recanted the story. My grandfather had served in the Korean war, and often told me stories about his service as well, he passed away last year from heart problems.

Hopefully children of solders lost can take comfort in knowing that their father or mother fought for a cause and for the nation, and I applaud organizations and families who provide mentoring, support and assistance for other families going through the same situations. Empathy and compassion are a powerful and effective method for coping with the difficulties of being military family.

-Justin Germino

Last week Washington State had its first death under the new suicide law which was enacted last November.   This puts currently only two states in the nation which allow for assisted suicide for terminally ill patients having the right to end their life instead of suffering through worsening health conditions.

There are people who both support and defiantly act opposed to the allowing of physician assisted suicide, but the truth of the matter is simply this.  If someone is terminally ill and in constant physical pain, assisted suicide gives the patient the ability to peacefully resign their life at a time of their choosing without continuing to suffer and cause suffering to family members around them.

We euthanize pets when they are old, fragile and feeble in order to put an end to their suffering and people should be treated with no less dignity.  There are clear guidelines that are in place before it becomes a viable alternative, people don’t want to take so many pain medications that they spend the last few weeks of their life in a foggy state of mind, they don’t want to suffer the indignity of infirmity that comes with rapid disease progression.

Simply put if the laws are written properly and enforced then there should be a legal way for people to end this world with dignity and spare their families and themselves.  It should always be a choice and it is a very personal choice, but people should have the freedom to make that choice.

-Justin Germino

I was at a sporting goods store which happen to sell all kinds of things including sports equipment, golf swing training aids, and workout equipment. They had used disc weights which I had been looking for, for $43 I was able to buy two fifty pound 1/4″ disc weights, which will go nicely with my weight set.

Now I can’t just add 100 pounds and bench it all, I am simply not that strong, but I took off my multitude of 35, 25 and 10 pound weights and started with the fifty pounders and a fifteen on each side making my bench now 150 with the weight of the bar.

It is a good step up for me and I am gradually working toward my goal of benching 200 pounds by the end of the year, which is the maximum weight my starter bench can safely support. I shall add ten pounds ever two weeks until I reach my goal.

I really do enjoy working out, there something about lifting weights while listening to really heavy metal and rock music and feeling fatigued, out of breath and that muscle soreness is actually a pleasant feeling I have found. My whole state of mind and body feels better for several hours after a workout, though I must admit I get tired early when I work out heavy and have been known to go to bed at 9pm at night after working out heavily during the day.

-Justin Germino

A NASA balloon release from New Mexico and floating over Arizona was mistaken by dozens of people as a UFO who called stations and police in several cities.  The balloon is a 4000 pound research instrument that floats at about 130,000 feet; this gave it the appearance of a circular disk or bubble in the sky that was so high that planes were seen flying underneath it.

The balloon made its way from Fort Sumner, N.M., where it was launched Sunday morning on May 17^th and landed near Kingman, A.Z., around 9pm on Monday May 18^th.  The balloon was visible for up to 170 miles in all directions with clear skies so many people from many cities were able to observe the strange looking object.

This isn’t the first time balloons were believed to be UFO objects and it won’t be the last, many times pranksters will tie flares to helium balloons and launch several of them to create glowing balls in the sky that seem to move in the same pattern.   Several such actions as these have made newspapers and have video footage of strange glowing orbs in a line pattern in the sky.

-Justin Germino

So I dusted off one of my only two suits and took my lady out to The Melting Pot restaurant back on Wednesday night, which is a very intimate and romantic restaurant that serves Fondue style foods here in Arizona. I rarely get in a suit and I wanted it to be a special occasion as it was the 13th anniversary of the day we met. To think that I met this beautiful girl back in May 1996 and she is still with me to this day makes me feel like a very special man indeed.

I am just glad I still have a suit and some dress shirts still hanging up in my closet, and believe it or not, I have never in my life worn a Tuxedo or had to rent or purchase tuxedo shirts for any occasion. I even was married while wearing a suit instead of a tuxedo, I often wonder if I will have to attend an event where I will wear a tuxedo.

Meanwhile she looked like a princess in the black dress that she wore, and I was just completely mesmerized and could not stop staring at her the whole night. We still got something if thirteen years later my heart beats faster every time I look at her.

-Justin Germino

Who says Pit Bull dogs are all bad?  In Oklahoma City, a Pit Bull by the name of D-boy manages to scare off an intruder who shot the dog three times before he fled.  His owner’s life was probably saved as the intruder was clearly armed and may have shot the owner had the dog not chased the man off.

Now, people say “All Pit Bull’s” aren’t bad dogs, that there are bad owners which is true, but it is still Pit Bulls who account for more child fatalities and injuries than any other dog breed in the world.  Pit Bull’s if an owner chooses to have one can make fiercely loyal guard dogs and they love their owners like any other dog.

I just think that people who own Pit Bulls should be very responsible with them; never let them roam, wander without being kept on a leash and never leave them unattended around strangers or children at parks, playgrounds or anywhere.

I used to own a Pit Bull a long time ago back in Mesa, but it’s a funny story, we didn’t really know we were buying a Pit Bull, we saw an ad for Sharpee / Bull Mastiff pups and when we saw the cute little wrinkly black puppy we just didn’t know that we were buying a pit bull.  When the dog grew up and would try to attack the UPS guy and even my in-laws were afraid to come over, we decided that the dog’s personality was just too unstable and we were afraid our in-laws could get bitten while we were on vacation and we certainly would never have trusted that dog around a child.   So we had to take him to the pound only a year and a half after we bought him as his behavior and personality were getting worse and we were worried he would be a liability.

-Justin Germino

I am actually partially bummed by my trip to Cabo in a few weeks, I realize that I have gained almost ten pounds in the last six months and my weight is slightly over 170. I was seriously looking over some fat burner reviews to find out if there is any quick way to shed five or six pounds in a week so I don’t look as bad in swimming trunks which I will be in while on the beaches.

Really I know my own solution and I have fallen off of my own plan, I eat more than I should calorie wise because I have always enjoyed eating. I still work out fairly hard, but the problem is people who dine out frequently consume more calories than people who eat at home. This is because restaurant food is packed with more calories mostly because they serve much larger portions, and people tend to eat everything they are served figuring a serving is a serving.

If you ate two meals at home for instance let’s say a plate of pasta vs. a restaurant you probably eat 40% more calories at the restaurant, because you won’t probably eat as much bread before the pasta, with butter maybe as well. And you likely won’t order a dessert; in addition seldom do you serve such a huge portion on your plate at home. (Not in my case though, I tend to eat a lot of pasta, it is in my Italian blood).

So I am really going to try keeping to no more than 1500 calories for the next week, I probably can trim at least three or four pounds if I can stick with that because I do burn off quite a bit with working out.

-Justin Germino