Ben's Fitness and Exercise Blog

All I can say is thank god for B.O., he should be helping to put the Bush administration in to perspective for the left.

“Caught between their boss’s anti-lobbyist rhetoric and the reality of governing, President Barack Obama’s aides often steer meetings with lobbyists to a complex just off the White House grounds – and several of the lobbyists involved say they believe the choice of venue is no accident.

It allows the Obama administration to keep these lobbyist meetings shielded from public view — and out of Secret Service logs collected on visitors to the White House and later released to the public.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/50081.html#ixzz1EslqCbLG

Is Robert Quinn a legitimate prospect as a 3-4 outside linebacker? He is probably the prospect with the highest upside that may be available at the nubmer 7 spot. The reason that he may be available is because there are questions about his character. Let’s get past his violation for taking money from an agent. I don’t see this as a major issue. What I do see as an issue as being so dumb that you get caught. Having played college football, I think it is akin to slave labor. First, you are virtually forced to go to college if you want to play pro sports. Unlike 99% of other career’s, it is hard to find much of a relationship between your performance in the classroom and your ability to earn a living as a football player. However, the way the system is set up, you have to go to college, and remain eligible, if you want a chance to play in the NFL. And, if you play at a major university, the college is going to profit at your expense. Of course they are giving you an education, but that pales in comparison to the amount of money the university makes from you putting your body at risk. 

Back to Robert Quinn, I think he is a nice prospect, but he looks more like a defensive end to me. Depending how the draft falls, I think the 49ers may have to take him, even if he only projects as a d-end for them.

Here’s a vid.

I was encouraged to hear Jim Harbaugh speak about the installation tapes that have gone missing from 49ers headquarters over the last several years. There was a clear reverance for what Bill did for the game when he spoke about these tapes. His understanding and respect for what the 49ers had accomplished makes me extremely hopeful that he will be able to put it all together and bring them back to their previous glory. Harbaugh doesn’t mince words. He’s a ball coach. He understand the game and respects the 49ers legacy. It’s been a long time since anyone in the coaching seat paid respect to the man who was responsible for the west coast offense and along with Eddie D, the forty niners dynasty.

I just swapped out my harman/kardon AVR 247 for a Insignia NS-R5101HD - AV. We had nothing but problems with the Harmon/Kardon from the start. My first problem was that I bought it while we were in the middle of a re-model, so I didn’t even crack the box until well after I was able to return it. It was a problem as soon as we plugged it in. It overheated from day 1. I went back to best buy to see if there was anthing they could do for me and they told me to cut a computer fan in to the back of the TV cabinet. As they talked me in to sinking $500 dollars in to this piece of equipment “for the experience” I felt obligated to try and make it work. In additon to the over heating. All of the buttons on the remote weren’t very responsive. We had to push them multiple times to get them to do anything. 

The insigina is a different story. At half the price, it performs twice as well. Easy to use, compatible with our other components, east to set-up, and no degredation in performance. Listen, I’m not an audiophile. So, if you are you might se a difference in performane. I don’t. We just watched the expendables and I though that it performed wonderfully. The remote even automatically synced with my directv. 

I know that the harman/kardon is the choice of the hardcore audiophiles. However, if you are just a guy like me that wants a nice surround sound experience, don’t waste your money on the harman/kardon.

I just abandoned my attempts to get this modem to work correctly. I spent months trying to run my online business with this wothless hunk of plastic. Now my cheap Zoom modem works far better than this top of the line modem. Not only am I out $150, it impacted my business for all of these months. I purchased this newer model when I moved my office to the other side of the house. I wanted to make sure that I was able to pick up the wireless signal at this further distance. Eventually, I ended up hardwiring it. In calling customer service of both Motorola and Cox, I was always informed that it wasn’t their fault and it could be the computer. Finally, I bit the bullet and bought a new modem, and all is well. Unfortunately, it will never make up for all of the lost time that I’ve had. Ultimately, Cox was right Motorola was wrong and I never should have switched from my netgear wireless router to begin with.

Avoid this Modem at all costs.

I love that when the unions are trying to get more money to accomodate their salaries, it’s all about “the kids” and “funding for education”. The fight in Wisconsin has stripped away all of the pretense and gotten directly to the core of the matter. It’s really all about the teachers. If it was about the kids, the teachers wouldn’t be skipping school fraudulently, just because they have to parkake in some of the paint the rest of the country has had to endure for the last 3 years. See the video below for details.

Walker Pnuemonia

I recently started using facebook pages for my store. There is no limit on the number of pages that you can have, so I was/am planning on creating one page for each product on my store. I’ve had a fan page for our store for a while, which has generated very little traffic. I use several feeds to push our content to the the personal development company facebook page. They get some views, but push very little traffic. I’ve now started creating an item for each page in the store. This has been a lot more successful. We’ve got multiple likes on most of tha pages and are starting to see a pretty consistent trickle of traffit from those pages. Today, I sat down and started creating those pages in bulk. I estimate that I got about 30 created and facebook made me stop, because it indicated that it could be annoying to other users. I’m not sure exactly how. It also indicated that I would be able to start creating pages again after several hours or up to several days. It also indicated that they had no way of knowing, that the software determined the time frame based on the percieved infraction. What I find intersting is that the rules clearly state that there is no limit to the number of pages and now I don’t know when I can continue creating pages related to my products. I’ve got a total of about 110 pages, most of which have been created in the last several weeks. These appear to be a great tool for my business, I’d just like a little bit better direction on what is acceptable.

While I have been fortunate enough to stay employed throughout the last 3 years, I am growing increasingly frustrated with our standard of living. My lifestyle is significantly less than my parents was. Both my wife and I are better educated than they were and we have been reasonably successful in our careers. I wonder if California’s economy is ever going to come back. How to prosper in this downturn is becoming an increasingly difficult question. They keep manipulating the data to say that we are coming out of this, but I find it very hard to believe.

Stay with me for a moment. In this offseason, which will probably be adversly affected by the CBA, it probably makes sense. There is a very small chance that the 49ers have the opportunity to go after a veteran QB, because the free agency period will be short, if any. There doesn’t appear to be any rookie in this draft that is going to be able to step in to this situation and provide instant leadership. That being the case, Smith might be the best option. He’s got great tools and been moderately successful when he has had the opportunity to work with competent offensive coordinators. His biggest short fall, is overthrowing his receivers. When you watch the film, you will see that is often caused because he is throwing with someone in his face. I would expect that this is finally the year that he should see a little time in the pocket. Really, considering the labor situation, he might be the best option. If he does in fact become the starter next year, assuming there is a next year. I will be anxious to see what Jim Harbaugh can do with him.

Many of us are on a lifelong road to find the path to personal enlightenment. The main goal on this road to personal enlightenment is to understand undeniable Truth’s that we have not yet grasped, so we can get closer in our relationship with a higher power. Truths….most people will indeed agree that they do understand the main differences between what can be considered as true, and what can be considered as false. Note I am talking about “falsehood”, and not about lies. Is there a way to be able to ascertain whether what you are hearing is in fact truth? According to the reputed doctor, it is indeed very possible. It can be achieved through dealing with the various levels of consciousness.

David Hawkins states that he has found the path to the ultimate truth. Dr. Hawkins claims there are 1000 levels of consciousness in each of us. Depending the level you have reached: you will be more aware of the differences between “truth” and “falsehood”. Also, people will differentiate more and more between ”truth” and ‘“falsehood” the higher they are reaching in those levels of consciousness. So, Dr. Hawkins will even say that there is actually like 15% of people who are at level 200, or higher.

The good news is that it is possible for you to increase your level of consciousness. A main way to increase your actual number of levels of consciousness is simply to challenge yourself even more. When you make the effort to challenge yourself it inspires growth. It is this growth that helps with your number of levels of consciousness. There are some elements of our life that we need to focus on more than others the moment we do challenge our self. For example fear, each time you become aware of a fear you have you need to accept that fact that you have that fear and it is a part of your reality. When you’re ignoring such fear, including running from it, that fear will grow even bigger. That fear will grow with power and it will be more present in your life. It is very important for you to understand that concept. Because on what your own mind will focus on, will affect your life.

Your beliefs are also another element to challenge in your life. People who do challenge their own beliefs are those who are considered to have a very high level of consciousness. To be open to more beliefs considered to be more empowering, you need to challenge your own belief. To know more about Dr. Hawkins and his truth vs. falsehood is indeed a great challenge. This is a step that you are taking to become more empowered. Don’t be trapped by your current beliefs. If you do limit yourself thinking something is simply not possible will inhibit your own ability to become fully enlightened. You need to have a strong personal connection when you’re trying to increase your own level of consciousness. Do not overlook the importance of knowing who and what you are. You will be different from the person you think you are now, or even the person others think you are. You will have to see in yourself to find out who really you are as a person.

I came across a tweet today from Pro Football Focus, by way of Matt Maiocco. They called Rachal one of the better young guards in the league. What are these guys smoking? While he has some power, he has far too many mental/technique lapses. When you are a guard, consistency is the key. You cannot afford to have a sack a game because of mental errors. You may be able to have one a year. This guy stand sup and leans in his pass set to guard against the bull rush, the defensive lineman feels it, gives him a move, and goes around him. I remember Scott McCloughan calling him a poor man’s Larry Allen. Let’s say a bankrupt man’s Larry Allen. I have a hard time seeing him as a starter next year. Admittedly, the guy has all of the physical tools, but he sucks. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but he does. And, unfortunately, it appears to me to be all technique and have nothing to do with physical ability. 

I came across TED yesterday. As it is not a new site, you may have already heard of it. It is geared around the Tech industry, with a lot of other information thrown in. The site setup is very unique. As a web designer, I thought it was very interesting the way that they pull the first page together. If your interested in either Tech or Web design, TED is worth taking a look at. I’d have to say that I was disappointed to see Van Jones on the front page, but beyond that, there appears to be a lot of good content as well as some funny stuff.