So I went a week without eating a single piece of meat… sorry Bri.
The results were fine. I lost two pounds. Some of it was really difficult, but I managed. And I did stay away from meat that I normally love to have.
Some meals included:
- Spaghetti with sauce and bread (had once)
- The pipe noodles with cheese, bread (had this twice)
- Panara cheese and broccoli soup bread bowl (had this twice)
- Grilled cheese and corn (had once)
- Pancakes, eggs, and biscuits (had once)
The hard parts:
- Eating spaghetti with no meat
- Being very picky as to where to go out to eat (ate at Panara and Bob Evans)
- Scrapping the toppings off the meat lovers pizza at work
- Not eating chicken that Monique brought in for lunch
- Not eating the same meal as Brian
The good parts:
- Sauce and bread
- Panera
- Caramel frapuchinos
It was a pretty positive experience for me. I never really ran out of food ideas because I was always willing to just eat a vegetable and something else small. And I wasn’t craving meat during or after.
My first meal on Sunday consisted of BK’s breakfast burrito which I love. We also did steaks that night. I really did miss meat but I never like craved it. Shawns steak after a week without meat was the best, though!
This experience probably did change me a little. I noticed I don’t eat as much meat now, since we had ribs last night and I didn’t eat them all. Bri and I will probably eat more sea food now, like shrimp and fish. Being away from fast food probably did my body good, too.
See my entry in 43 Things!
Sorry it took me so long to post but after over two years of wanting to do it, I finally took and PASSED the Zend PHP 5 Certification Exam!
Although this has nothing to do with what I’m currently doing now, I feel it will help me in the future, plus it’s pretty cool since I can use the logo! Anyway, I started preparing for the exam around the beginning of March. I had previously bought the two books by PHP Architect (Zend PHP 5 Certification Study Guide 2nd Edition and Zend PHP Certification Practice Test Book).
I first read through the Study Guide. Though full of mistakes, it really wasn’t too painful to get through. I took notes on stuff I thought I should know. All the while I was reading what others were saying about the test itself. I read any blog that I could in relation to the test. That’s where I got another recommended book (Zend PHP Certification Study Guide by Zend Technologies). I bought and read this book only to discover a few pages into it that it dealt with PHP4, not 5. I decided to skip the things that had totally been redone since 5, like OOP. I did steal a lot of the questions though.
Thinking I was pretty well prepared, I decided to take the tests in the Practice book. I burned pretty badly on a few topics (Dates, Security, Streams, and Regex). I also found a few free practice tests online. After wearing out all the test questions online, I pretty much decided to hit the Manual… hard. That was painful and grusom, if you have any idea how BIG the manual is. I spent most my days at work reading the PHP Manual and taking notes and preparing practice tests for myself.
After reading the manual, taking practice tests, and preparing my big ass function practice test, I decided to buy the practice exams offered by PHP Architect. On average I took two a week, starting March 29. I passed all of them, with the last three I took being EXCELLENT. It doesn’t give you the answers at the end, but it gives you the areas you need to improve. I was always bad at Design and PHP4/5 Differences. Google and Wiki helped me in these areas. All the questions I wasn’t sure about, I copied to a text file during the test. I really highly recommend these tests since it’s set up like the exam itself. 70 questions in 90 minutes.
I took the Friday before the exam off to study and took the test Saturday. It only took me about an hour and 15 minutes. They make it really nice for you since you can go back and review. My name was in the PHP Yellow Pages by Tuesday.
See my entry in 43 Things!
My Name In PHP Yellow Pages!
Tomorrow, May 17, 2009, I will begin my week of being a vegetarian. This choice is purely experimental and it’s basically just to say I did it.
I will not be eating meat of any kind, including fish or shrimp. I will, however, eat eggs, cheese, and milk (prohibiting those items means I would be a vegan).
Honestly, I think this decision is going to be hard and I’ll probably do it a crappy way and eat french fries, pie, biscuits and sauce, and basically B S my way through it.
It’ll probably be hard tomorrow because tonight I’m staying in Ocean City and will probably have to grab fast food tomorrow morning, but we’ll see.
My beginning weight is 154.
I’ve always had a conspiracy theory about weight problems in our country.
I was watching Bill Maher last week, he had David Kessler on his show, talking about his new book The End Of Overeating… basically confirmed part of my theory.
My beliefs are that the food companies/restaurants are causing us to be obese. They sell these huge portions figuring they can sell more food for more money. We don’t really have a choice in this matter. It’s not like I can go to one of the places at the mall and ask for half a serving, it’s all or nothing. We’ve become accustom to eating that much food. And when you buy a meal like that, not eating all of it is just a waste if you throw it away.
I’ve never had problems with my weight, however, but when I started to notice the scale going up to uncomfortable levels (155-160), I decided to cut back. I ditched the typical mall food ($6+ for more than a serving), and started to eat either a pretzel, a subway sandwich (6 inch), a steak sub, or an ice cream. (Also saved money too.) I also started doing a little exercising, but the big thing is cutting back. I think I’m a healthy weight now and tend to keep up with what I’m doing.
Stopping yourself from eating is always a hard thing to do but it needs to be done. I only eat until I’m completely full about once a week. Other than that, I really limit the amount of food I take. It takes a lot of discipline, but it is possible. Don’t eat until you’re full.
