Medical Mondays: Lasik and the 20/20 vision

by in medical Mondays

Since I did a project in high school about laser eye surgery aka Lasik, I have wanted to perfect my own vision. There are only a few things I wish I could change about myself and unlike my current height, it is relatively safe and relatively easy to perfect my vision. I decided to go for it while I still have the cash availability. Your welcome 5, 10, 20, 30 years from now me.

More information on the procedure and how it went to come in future bloggings…

Does this mean I have to update my license?

Foodie Fridays: What is it like to live without sugar?

by in Foodie Fridays, Rachel Barnard and tagged | 1 Comment
 
Check out my project blog: rachelbarnardwithoutsugar.blogspot.com
 
What does it mean to eat without consuming sugar? Eating without sugar is all about making better choices, not necessarily eliminating sugar entirely. I feel that in these three short weeks I have learned quite a bit about the lifestyle and the choices you make trying to eat no sugar entirely. The American lifestyle is not at all conducive to sugar free living. Nearly all prepared foods contain sugar to some degree. The implications are deep. Good luck eating out. All you get to eat are raw foods. How many restaurants serve raw foods? Almost none, unless it’s a salad. And if you happen to just want one of those raw foods salads, you can’t have any salad dressing. Na ah. Almost all of the commercially available restaurant chosen dressings contain sugar. For taste, right?
 
So restaurants are out. So are common snack foods. Candy. Energy bars. Drinks. Etc. Sugar. Sugar. And Sugar.
 
Eating without sugar forces you to eat better. To cook your own food and stay away from the junk and the candy. What a wonderful trade off!
 
But still…
 
I don’t think I can give up ice cream. And I like eating out now and then. I already make better choices. Not that pie, but the baked chicken. Do you know what I mean?
 
It is all about our choices. What we choose day to day that makes up our lifestyle and dietary choices. Fad diets don’t work, so waiting to eat the cheesecake and candy until next week isn’t going to help you. You have to constantly be on top of your cravings. I think it’s okay to eat the occasional sugared treat but not every day or throughout the day. Sugar is a metabolism inhibitor.
 
What I’ve gotten out of this experience is: Everything in moderation. Medicine is not except from checking the ingredients (inactive ingredients) label. Check everything on that label! Costco has embraced alternative foods and has some great choices for prepared foods made healthier.
 
After drastically (not that I was eating so much sugar before but there is a difference) reducing my sugar intake I have noticed that other foods can be sweet. Milk is sweet to me. Bread (without sugar) is sweet to me. Fruits can be substituted as a dessert because they are so sweet and delicious.
 
Happy 24th birthday to me. I’m off to eat a gourmet locally crafted cake from My Cakes in Snoqualmie. I’ll let you know how it tastes.
 

Let me tell you it was delicious!

Author Thursdays: Live from the Black Dog… It’s Thursday Night!

by in Author Thursdays, Local Authors, Local Events | 1 Comment

An Evening of Stories – Live at The Black Dog

FreeValley Publishing’s authors will be at The Black Dog in Snoqualmie, WA on January 23, 2014 6-7:30pm for a Meet the Author’s event. Our authors will read excerpts from their published works and give short commentary on different aspects of self-publishing. We will then be available to chat and sign books for you.
This is in league with local chap book makers who will also have works available that evening. Paul Green will play Jazz at 7:30 onward, so you can make it a complete entertainment outing. Come an see us!

http://freevalleypublishing.com/2013/12/16/an-evening-of-stories-live-at-the-black-dog/

Author Tuesdays: Clarification

by in Author Tuesdays, Toiling Tuesdays

Toiling Tuesdays is becoming Author Tuesdays. I will be writing about author related things on both Tuesdays and Thursdays as writing (and reading) are such important parts of my life.

Don’t forget:

Miscellaneous or Medical Mondays
Author Tuesdays
Wildlife Wednesdays
Author Thursdays
Foodie Fridays
Seattle Saturdays
Socializing Sundays (for friendships, relationship, and hanging out)

Miscellaneous Mondays: Amazing Amazon idea

by in Miscellaneous Mondays

Take note Amazon. Here is an amazing idea that I wish was already in place to make my buying experience even better:

First you take a questionnaire that works to pair you up with a personality (or real person) who will be your authoritative on purchasing. This person will have similar tastes as you and will have bought many of the products you are looking for. They will be able to pick which one they liked best and why. They are like the Costco of Amazon, bringing down your choices to one or two so that you know they are the best products for YOU!

Your authoritative personality can even suggest items you might like based on their own interest, as it is similar to your own. Not just “because you bought this” -> “you might like this” or “other people who bought this item” -> “also bought these items” but “because your persona says this product is awesome, you might like it.”

What do you think? Could it work? Would you use this service or would it bug you?

There are so many different products out there and sometimes too many reviews of any one product (good and bad reviews) to be able to make a knowledgeable decision. This service would break through this issue and give you a person to follow in their decisions. For example, you are looking for a bread machine. They range from the $70 cheap one to the $300 Zojirushi. What does your authoritative figure have to say? There aren’t any “top 500 Amazon reviewer” reviews on this product. Without this service, I figured out my purchasing decision by going to Google, finding reviews on blogs, and reviews on Amazon. The clincher for how I bought the bread machine that I did was the multiple reviews on Amazon for one bread machine that told me to buy another specific machine, so I did.

Author Thursdays: The Art of Book Covers

by in Author Thursdays, Local Authors and tagged ,

I have hemmed and hawed over book covers, specifically pre-made. It sounds so easy. Just a few dollars and wham bam I’ve got a cover! Or if you use Createspace’s cover creator it’s free. However, many people say that the cover creator pumps out boring covers that are easily attributed to the creator bot. What says you? I used their creator for my poetry book, as it doesn’t require anything super fancy:

The cover creator is customizable in certain regards, such as changing any of the text and some of the placement but not entirely changeable, so what you see will be what you get basically. You have to be happy with their offerings to go with the cover creator.

Back to pre-mades. There are tons of sites devoted to pre-made and custom-made covers. Even Amazon will devote their design team to making you a unique cover, for a hefty fee of course. If you go with a pre-made, all you get to do is add your name and title and barcode. The image is as is, no changing. What if you want more shadows? Nope. What if you want less blue? Nope. Perhaps some of the artists will work with you on their pre-mades but then there definitely will be a customizing fee added on.

There is also literature out there that warns about the cons of pre-made covers. Are they used more than once? Sometimes. I’ve seen elements used more than once in multiple pre-mades as well. Here’s an article that breaks down the everything that can go wrong will scenarios when considering a pre-made cover for your next novel:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1307192-beware-of-pre-made-covers

So what to do? Well, if you can and your budget is drop dead nothing, do it yourself! Here is a website with a list of other websites where you can find images to use in your cover creation.

Making a book cover –http://www.blueglass.co.uk/blog/30-free-image-websites-creative-commons-royalty-free/

You can also commission someone with photoshopping skills to help you out. Or find one of those random artists online to make you a custom cover, but beware the internet my friends!