Vegetarian-ism day 5

feeling good, feeling great- Outkast

today i was feeling like I neeed sustenance from MEAT, so i bailed out buying a fish sandwich from Crapdonalds today I treated myself to Atlanta Bread Company half a soup/sandwich combo. Again this is why I've chilled out on eating out that lil meal cost 6bucks, although the tunasald was banging!!

Once i get through a week hopefully the tension will ease up some..
I'm trying to fill the void and get extra protein by eating snack/energy/nutrition bars:
I ate these sparingly in the past, only because man these joints are so expensive in the markets like 1 bar is almost 2 dollars but here's a quick and dirty review of the bars I've tried:

1. The best- Cranberry Organic Food Bar-
this whole product line rocks.. They are raw pressed (meaning not baked or cooked) only made w/ organic foods, no added sugar and the taste is amazing!! Plus you do feel pretty vibrant after consuming one. *not to be considered a meal replacement bar*- http://www.organicfoodbar.com


2. Highly Addicting Slim Fast Bar- Chocolate Cookie Dough and Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch:
We all know the stigma behind slim fast bars but seriously, they have alot of vitamins and minerals packed into the bars that taste so good. The new ones have alot less sugar and are constructed to allow you to go in between meal longer. I usually eat one for breakfast and have my lunch later in the day or I'll eat one in the afternoon noon and eat my dinner later than usual. my only grip is a box is pricey but I'm looking at Ebay to solve that for me. I don't do the whole slim fast line so I can't comment and say I lost 10 lbs in a week due to the slim fast diet LOL.



3. Power Bar-
Tried this tonight after my work out was hungry and I wanted some extra energy to clean up the apt and get ready for morning. Did not like this one, tasted too much of the chocolate and it had a a grainy textured feeling. Plus I didn't really feel any extra boost but I see it says take before the workout so maybe I screwed up ....

4. Balance Bar-
Tried this at work one morning since our lil cafe was sold out of Slimfast bars.. was surprisingly good not real chocolaty (hate that) and the peanut butter flavoring masked all the vitas and minerals that supposed to be back into each bar.. gave me a good continuous flow of energy until I got to lunch. I bought another one at Giant tonight so I'm going to try it again to see if I will keep this in rotation.

5. CLIF Bar-Builders Peanut-
Bought this tonight at Giant because it was on sale and because I love peanut butter bars LOL.. +1 being its all natural -1 I think its for body builders LOL.. but the extra protein is supposed to get the person energy and that's all I"m looking to get out of this bar. Gonna this try this one later on the week will repost a report.

Well I know I"m going to order a box of the organic bars and the slim fast bars online.. good prices but I would like to have one more brand in my rotation just because in the future I want to rely on having an energy bar as a daily snack while I'm on this transition to becoming a vegetarian.
but i have to go now.. all the clocks in the house are wrong and I need to get some order before I'm an hour late/early to work tomorrow

all i gotta say is

I found this off Black Voices.. i hope its true


I'm sitting here laughin my behind off at http://www.southparkzone.com/episode.php?vid=1101
South Park Nword episode this joint is FUNNNNY like how can they say this kind of stuff on TV.. but you have to watch this!

moonflower

let me just note I'm mad last night I was halfway through another lengthy blog only for the power to go out- I was pissed once the lights came back on, I re-set the clocks and went to bed!! but Moonflower that's what my friends call me now, well one really but no one understands my new spirit of naturalness and creating your own inner spirituality. This name spawned when I asked my girl if she wanted to attend the Washington Home and Garden show this weekend at the convention center. She laughed in my face. People forget that I'm from the country and I grew up growing plants, and vegetables for years that what me and my aunts did in the summer. I got away from that during my transition to living up here in the city but now that im a self-proclaimed natural sistah I'm all about it. You cannot really trust the crap that is sold to us in the supermarkets. Now im not saying i'm growing all my food that's impossible given the life of a working woman but while I already have plants in the house I want to get some more plants and I told my girl I want to learn how to grow my own herbs (for cooking). I think that's cool! Can't do much from a one bedroom apartment with only a balcony but once i get a real home bet I will have an OFFICIAL garden!!

Another aspect of my life I'm evaluating is becoming a true vegetarian. Currently I only eat chicken, turkey, fish seafood. This year marks my 10th anniversary of when I gave up eating pork and red-meat, cut if off cold turkey. I worked in the kitchen nursing home and was exposed to food galore and one morning after eating bacon I felt so disgusted I was like about 16 and i had bacon for breakfast everyday since i was probably 10 or younger. I just kirked in the kitchen and all my co-workers thought I was playing but I had that job until I was about 20 even in college and they always asked if I reniged- never that. I can't even stomach red-meats with out feeling sick and the smell of pork(salty) YUCK.. and I hate touching meat anyway so that helps me want to say NO. I"m debating about eliminating seafood/fish only because the Nation of Islam brothers I kicked it with in highschool used to preach against eating food from the bottom of the food chain aka the scavengers of the earth. I still remember their words...For turkey- done, chicken- not so easy. While my cooking has improved I"m no Food-network TV chef and we all know how easy it is to make chicken dishes so that's a challenge for me to step up and learn how to make the veggie dishes. Today is day 3 and its been OK so far... steamed veggies for lunch tomorrow, have baked beans for dinner.. the weekend.. eh will be hard but all I can do is try one day at a time.

Last topic before I hit the sofa is I forgot to inform the world about my upgrade. Traded my Nintendo DS for a Sony PSP. Got a nice deal from Gamespot- DS + Games = 170 only paid 30 more for brand new PSP (200$). Why did I do this you ask cuz I loved my lil DS basically I still haven't gotten a WII but my boy from work was telling me how the PSP can play games from the NES,SNES,Gameboy era - which is what the Virtual Console feature of the WII does. For me I love new games but they are too complex in game play plus you have to have HD this HD that to really get the full effect. I don't have time for all that. I just want to play a lil mario laugh, and that's that LOL. So through help of another friend I downloaded custom firmware (the operating system of the PSP) and that allows me to play old games using emulators and ROMS.. if you want more info google those terms cuz not trying to break now laws explaining how to do that but I'm happy the PSP is cool alot of customization is possible. Here are a couple of screen shots:

i owe the world a blog and some..

..no shameless yelling about me not bloggin more consistently i know i need to get better.

First and foremost- my god son finally came out the night I was at the wizards game 22Feb but we got a win and I have a godson! He's a big boi 8lbs and growing!! I'm so happy like I can only imagine the joy and celestial feelings when you have your own children cuz right now I'm on cloud 9 when it comes to this lil boy!!


Job update: Well my boss fixed the contract issues so I've been employed past 28 Feb. I'm still not happy though because basically my program office our system is coming to the end of its lifecycle and everyone's trying to get the new replacement system off the ground and yall know how defense does it:
1. Dream a big vision (We want software that will allow us to talk underwater and blow rainbow bubbles to the enemy, while working on using solar power AND comes in the camouflage color only ) 2. Make a big fuss in the news about how this new system will revolutionize how defense does business 3. Plan a HUGE, GIGANTIC budget for this project. 4. Award to big name contractor 5. Periodically appear in the news with status 6. (one year later) Announce the project is running a bit behind schedule but will be completed 7. (another year later) Announce the project is still behind schedule and will need more budget for completion. 8. Congress gives them extra dough 9a. Give contract to another firm to screw up 9b. throw the blame on someone/thing on why project is late 10a. Go back to step 4 and repeat until someone realizes this was unrealistic project (from the beginning) and cans it or they actually produce something that's buggy and then can it... LMAO this was DRAMATIC spin but basically my agency is trying to work so hard to get the new replacement system up and running so our program office is decrepit and neglected. So i'm seeking a new job one for better job stability and to work somewhere meaning where I can learn more etc.
But given that I have a job that allows me to be more selective. I turned down one job in the same bldg last week b/c the salary wasn't enough to counteract the fact their company doesn't reimburse for school/training- No GOOD! This project w/ the census bureau I got selected for but it has been dragging and I don't know if I would accept it because I don't want to work for a civilian agency and two its in Suitland which is a hour train ride, I have actually quick sickly gotten used to working in VA
The funny thing is today I got a call from the same peeps I turned the job down, telling me they found a way to pay me more..i would be doing the work for another firm (w/o going into long details the contractor world is so wild) so that's cool this company actually has better benefits so I may take if this opportunity I interview for on Friday doesn't work out.
The friday joint is wild too basically I had an interview set up last friday but they(recruiter firm) had to cancel it.. Get this because the job is w/ the same contracting company that wants me on the census project so I can only go through them and my existing contact. Its funny because 2 recruiter's have contacted me about the opportunity and i told them i can't interview because of the situation which makes no sense basically they are fighting over who will get a cut if i indeed get the position. So I finally tracked down my contact and was like I'm not feeling the census gig I want this other project in my bldg working on TRICARE (DoD Health IT system).. the job is hot because they want mid-level people who are willing to be groomed and mentored by senior staff to eventually work up to higher level projects. Not to many jobs out hea' want you to elevate so I'm really feeling this joint! The only and I hate to use the term downside is they require their new employee to obtain I.T Certification of either CISSP or Security+ within 6 months of coming on board... its a risk but im not to worried because of my next topic:

Class starts tomorrow: CISSP-Certified Information Systems Security Professional
12 Weeks of studying for this intense exam. 12 Weeks of driving out to the f-ing boondocks of VA (Fair Oaks Via-I66) afterwork in mostly irritating traffic. Our first session is tomorrow, and yes they are calling for snow.. which I hope comes before afternoon rushour cuz I'm not fighting to get way out there in inclement weather.. but I'll keep yall posted on how this goes...

My new hustle:
Well ya'll know I got the e-book reader and of course like mp3s there are ways to get ebooks too my plan was to get these printed via Kinkos etc but the flaw in the plan is kinkos cost a grip when some of these tech books are like over 300+ so I have to figure out which is better used book prices from amazon vs me finding some place to print my .pdfs out at a good rate.

New Spot for my naturalists: www.smileherb.com
I was in deep college park w/ my girl looking for this tatto shop. She wants to get something, I'm done for a minute. We found the shop but it was closed. It was a Vegan diner on the strip and this other house (turned into a store) called Smile Herb Shop. So I'm laughing like hmm what kind of herbs they selling that's gonna make you smile hahaha. We only went it because we saw another sista (not a e.badu type) going in.. this place was like the bombdotcom it was the Mecca of all natural shops.. they sold every kind of tea for any ailment, loose leaf tea.. herbs for cooking, insents, burning sage bundles for protecting the home.. candles, clothes, bookstore, vitamins/supplements, soap, jewlrey, oils.. it was 2 story victorian house turned out like a market. This was the type of shop like if you were on tv you would ask to buy something crazy like " the ear of a goblin" LMAO but i was joaning like crazy like you really probably could go there at night and find them selling 'ish out the back for making potions...but it was great experience I look forward to doing much business with them and again it was mad sisters in there which is good!

but im ending this meaty blog, gonna finish my washing and put my eyeball on the TV. My office got 50$ worth of mega-million tickets... it feels good to dream but if yall hear on the new local maryland girl shut down mall for shopping that's me and i probably wouldn't be bloggin until they let me out the crazy house
-Peace!