Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives: Locations in SoCal

 So I've been a big fan of Triple-D for a couple of years now, but I could never seem to catch an episode of Guy in or around L.A./ Orange County. So I went to Food Network's website and found the locations Guy has visited in our area.

  

Photo from http://flappyjacks.com/ 

I only have one problem.

 

Fieri hasn't visited Flappy Jack's Pancake House Restaurant in Glendora (or as I affectionately call it, G-Dora). I don't want to hear that you've visited a diner in SoCal UNTIL you have been to Flappy Jack's. Please tell me what is more diner-licious then a pancake house on Historical Route 66 where you can get a platter of food. Literally, half the platter is a 4-egg-omelet and other half is home style potatoes. BEST BREAKFAST IN AMERICA! You haven't lived until you've tried their New Mexico Omelet.

  

Photo from http://flappyjacks.com/ 

 

And the cheeseburgers are AWESOME (*singing in a falsetto voice*). I just sometimes can't bring myself to order a cheeseburger because I LOVE their omelettes too darn much.



Here's the locations in and around L.A. & Orange County that Triple-D has featured:



- The Oinkster, Eagle Rock, CA

- The Nickel Diner, L.A., CA

- Polka Restaurant and Catering, L.A., CA 

- Gloria's Cafe, L.A., CA

- Jay Bee's Bar-B-Que, Gardena, CA

- Brats Brothers, Sherman Oaks, CA

- Paul's Coffee Shop, Fountain Valley, CA

- Momma Cozza's, Anaheim, CA

- Schooner or Later, Long Beach, CA

- Patrick's Roadhouse, Santa Monica, CA



GET YOUR BOOTIE DOWN HERE GUY!





Remedies for Blogger's Commenting Issues

Word on the street: Blogger's built-in comment system sucks!

My problem: I didn't know that until after I had dedicated HOURS to messing around with HTML code to get the design of my new blogspot to look as much like my website as possible.

So I say: "Never give up! Never surrender!"

Possible remedies: Here's what I found after a few hours of sifting through comments on blogger's help articles,

• When using a Google profile to leave a comment: Make sure you UNCHECK the box that says "Stay signed in." By default, when you choose "Google Account" from the "Select profile..." drop down menu, it sends you to the Google sign-in screen with the "Stay signed in" box already checked. UNCHECK that bad boy and (God willing) it should stop looping you back around to the sign in screen over and over again.  

• If you have a blogspot and want to give your commenters a break: Make sure that you have a "Name/URL" and "Anonymous" option under the "Select profile..." drop down menu.
• To do this: Sign into blogger, go to your Dashboard.
• Choose the "Settings" tab, then click on "Comments."
• Under "Who Can Comment," select "Anyone - includes Anonymous Users"
• Click on "Save Settings" at the bottom of the page.

• If you wish to REPLACE blogger's built-in comment system: Consider using an outside comment system that disables your blog's default comment module and replaces it with a new one using JavaScript, like...
• DISQUS - It's incredibly easy to use and install. If you used blogger's templates to design your blogspot, then this will work for you. You simply push a button and Disqus does all the work for you and patches your blogspot with your new Disqus' account. (I, however, had to be a control freak and make my own HTML code and that magic button wouldn't work for me. In that situation, Disqus has you copy and paste their "Universal Code" in the body of your HTML template, which never came out right no matter what I did.) 
• IntenseDebate - I went with IntenseDebate. They allow you to upload an XML document of your HTML code (which you can easily download from your blogger account by going to "Design">"Edit HTML">"Download Full Template") and - here's my favorite part - they put in their JavaScript for you!!! You then copy and paste your newly revised HTML template back into blogger (replacing the old one entirely) and *poof* no more blogger comment system!

If you wish to help me test it out, feel free to leave a comment below :) 

Men Can Be Big Boys!

Dear Tide Stain Release,

Thank you for being one of the first commercials (I've noticed) to feature a man washing his own damn laundry. I realize the man was in a laundry mat, rather than a home - as if to say, "he must be a bachelor who lives in an apartment alone, because if lived in a house with hook ups and a woman... Well, we know who would be doing it then." BUT, it's at least a step in the right direction.

Thank you for reminding us, mindless viewing public, that males don't need someone who owns a uterus to help their clothes smell nice and fresh.

Who knows what's next? Maybe we can now expect a Pennzoil commercial featuring a woman or a Scotch Brite ad that actually shows a man holding a sponge.

And maybe, just maybe I'll give up shaving my legs with men's shaving cream and razors because the pretty pick ones won't be more expensive.

Sincerely,
A woman SICK of stereotypes, whose husband cooks and does his own laundry (and she's agreed to do the dishes because she HATES cooking).

Kaiser: Love it or hate it?

I've been working in and around the healthcare industry for the last eight years. Throughout that time I've come to find that if anyone was looking for a conversation starter, all you had to do is say the word "Kaiser" and watch the fireworks begin. 

Inevitably, you would hear someone say, "I love Kaiser!" while someone else would counter with, "I can't stand them!"

In fact for a long time, I put the topic of Kaiser in the same conversation category as politics and religion. Its just something you avoid talking about if you're speaking with someone new and want to keep the conversation polite.

It always floored me how no one seems to be "middle of the road" on them. They either love Kaiser or they hate Kaiser and here's why: _____________ (fill in the blank). Actually, I take that back. The only people that seem indifferent to Kaiser (they neither love, nor hate) are people that never go to the doctor or haven't had any real illness or affliction in their life time.

Recently, my organization (which has over 1000 people on our employer group health plan) decided that they may offer Kaiser as a lower cost alternative to our current carrier, UnitedHealthcare (UHC). When UHC got wind of this, they told us that they would raise our premium rates in 2012 an additional 5% over and above their usual annual increase of 10% to 15% (Basically, trying to cushion the blow of any potentially lost revenue if/ when some of our employees switch over to Kaiser).

Anyhow, we decided to design a simple online survey asking our employees what they wanted. The results were astounding! First and foremost, when I do mass emails like this to our employee population I rarely get ANY response. With that in mind, I decided to make the subject line very straight forward. I simply wrote "Should [our organization] offer Kaiser?" With in two hours of the email going out we had heard from 10% of our people. With in two days (over the weekend), 25%. I wish I could convey to you just how amazing this is!!!

The results: True to it's own campaign - "Thrive" - Kaiser seems to have found the hidden immunity idol...

• So far 70% of respondents say they would like to enroll on Kaiser.
• More shocking than that, 25% of respondents say they would be willing to pay the same premium that they pay for their current UHC plan (That is huge! We were considering Kaiser because it would be a "lower cost option," but basically 25% of folks are telling us they simply prefer Kaiser, with or without the savings).

So, what about you... Kaiser, love it or hate it?

3 Years & Still Going Strong?

Numbers: On July 3, 2008 I was 300 pounds. Yesterday (July 3, 2011) I was 169.8. Its been 3 years since I made the decision to change my life. 2 years being under the infamous 200 pound mark. 1.5 years maintaining my weight at an average 170.

Am I still going strong? I guess that depends on your definition of strong. There's a reason I never started a formal blog about my weight loss journey the way a lot of us 100+ pound losers do. I didn't go to group meetings or join an online community. I didn't have a surgery. I didn't pop a pill. I didn't join Nutrisystem, Lindora, Jenny Craig, WeightWatchers or any other weight loss company/ movement/ revolution. I didn't start exercising. I didn't start "eating right" and fill the house with produce, whole wheat and white meats. I didn't start drinking more water. I didn't give up fast food.

What did I do? I simply STOPPED overeating. I gave myself 1500 calories a day (maximum) to do whatever the hell I wanted with and after that I was done! Yes, there were days when all I ate was 1500 calories of donuts OR pizza OR ice cream.

You can probably guess why I didn't advertise what I was doing. People expect to hear that you ransacked your kitchen of everything that contained more than 1 gram of fat and replaced it with wheat grass. That you go to the gym every morning before the butt crack of dawn. And that you have some how installed imaginary blinders to the endless stream of  "bad food" that comes at us all day.

The truth is, I didn't feel strong enough to do it that way. For those of you that were/ are... YOU'RE MY HERO! I, however, knew my real problem wasn't the foods I loved or the exercise I avoided, it was the fact that I couldn't commit. I would start Atkins or SlimFast or some new aerobics video with Kathy Ireland and after one month and a few pounds lost I would walk away never to return. I finally stopped the madness and asked myself what changes could I live with for the long haul. The secret is... EVERYTHING WORKS! Every diet works! The real question is: What are you going to stick with?

To those that say I should stop eating crappy foods and exercise more: I wholeheartedly agree! But will I? Probably not. I live in America where the real food pyramid is made up of  fast food value menus and 500 calorie coffees. I couldn't get away from it, so I stopped trying.

As you can probably guess, there's an inherent danger to losing/ maintaining your weight while still eating smaller portions of whatever you want. It's like giving an alcoholic a tablespoon of their favorite drink and asking them not to want more. But for me it has been infinitely easier than going cold turkey, which I've done. Within a week I was usually hit by some wrecking ball craving, spent the day binging and I would never get back on the horse. Thus, I would remain 300 pounds, which is far more unhealthy than me at 170 pounds eating 1500 calories a day of whatever the heck I wanted.

That isn't to say I still don't have my binging days. I do. They're called weekends. However, the difference is now I weigh myself every single morning and I count my calories every single day. I force myself to see the direct correlation between eating 4,000 calories one day and watching the scale go up by 2 pounds the next. It keeps me accountable. And unlike before, I'm not afraid to get back on the horse. Because getting back on the horse doesn't mean denying myself the foods I want, it just means eating less of them.

Why losing weight is easier than maintaining: Losing weight is an absolute high!!! When you have over 100+ pounds to lose the journey ahead seems impossible to conquer, but once you get that magical ball rolling, it's totally addicting! Constantly getting on the scale and seeing 2-5 pounds gone each week (which is easy to do when you have that much to lose) is awesome! Crossing my legs for the first time... Awesome! Not needing a seat belt extension on a plane... Awesome! Getting up off the floor without a struggle, running up a flight of stairs, shopping in the non-plus size sections of stores... All awesome!

But like any new relationship, eventually that magic wears off. And your once novel romance is now "the norm." Don't get me wrong, you NEVER truly forget what it's like to be in your old body, you just simply stop marveling at everything. I don't think about it every day and I sometimes find myself avoiding old pictures. They're too painful to look at. And that's precisely when old habits start to creep in. When you "let yourself go" a few days and discover you've gained 5 pounds. That's the danger zone.

In conclusion: There isn't one. I'll be doing this dance the rest of my life. No matter the method for my weight loss madness, ignorance is no longer an option! If I gain the weight back, it's because I chose to! I'll be carrying this bag the rest of my life. But hey, it's a hell of a lot lighter than the bag I used to carry.

Where's my horse, I need to get back on it!

Ugh! I love that word. To the grammar experts of the world, yes, I realize it hardly counts for a real word. It's an audible expression of disgust. But for me those three little letters encapsulate my frustration and exhaustion whenever you've taken a writing hiatus and are trying to hop back on the proverbial horse. I'm exactly 51,567 words into my first book (a.k.a. the half way mark). I'm at a scene where the heroine stands up in front of 500 people and has to say something profound. Something that transcends past generational gaps, races and gender differences to reach everyone in the audience. No pressure or anything!

I've been avoiding this scene for the last three weeks. I even stopped to design this nifty blog and website. Now I'm blogging in my new blog about it... lol. New level of avoidance? Probably.

Better late than never?

Set up: Published Author (PA) gets in line behind starry-eyed Wannabe (WB) at the Cyber Space Blogging Bar.

PA taps WB on the shoulder. “So, first blog hey?”

WB looks around anxiously and then whispers, “Is it that obvious?”

PA: “Ah no, I just noticed the copy of Blogging for Dummies in your hand.”

WB: “Oh.”

PA:  “Why?... Are you nervous?”

WB: “Kind of. I’m not sure what to say.”

PA: “Say anything. There’s no hard fast rules to this stuff.”

WB: "I guess I'm just afraid that my anything won't be witty enough or some Oprah 'ah-ha' moment. By the way, wasn't John Cusack cute in Say Anything?”

PA: “Heck yeah he was!”

*The sound of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” fills the bar.*   

WB looks shocked. “Wow, that’s ironic!”

PA shrugs. “Not really. You’re the one writing this blog.”

WB: “Oh. Right.”

PA: “So, why don’t you talk about how you got interested in writing stories? You've probably loved books ever since you were a child, right?"

WB shakes her head.

PA looks surprised. "No?"

WB winces. “I know, it's weird. I thought of reading as absolute drudgery when I was in school.”  

PA: “Oh. Well, I'm sure if you weren't always reading stories growing up you must have been writing them?”

WB shakes her head again. “I only wrote poetry as a kid.”

PA: “Then why the sudden interest now?”

WB grimaced. “I can’t say.”

PA: “Oh come on. It can’t be that bad.”

WB: “Let’s just say I saw a certain movie a couple of years ago, then bought a certain book, then bought  the whole series of books and I was hooked! I needed more! Before long I had devoured over 50 books in six months.”

PA looked at WB knowingly. "Twilight?"

WB quickly covered her face. The sound of her voice muffled behind her hands: “Yes.”

 So there you have it. My secret source of shame. Not so much Twilight (if that's what you were thinking), but that it took me hopping on some pop culture bandwagon to discover what others have known all their lives... The joy of reading. The fact that this new found passion gave me another outlet for an old love of mine (writing), is just a plus.  I guess it's better late than never.