The Zombieslayer

2009 sucked.   2010 was better, but that’s not saying much.  Let’s hope 2011 is actually a good year for everyone.  Wishing everyone health and employment.

I’ve been in and out of work for the past few years and learned a few pointers that I’d gladly share.  This is how I was able to find work (I haven’t been more than a month unemployed, even in the heart of the recession as these tips work).

First and foremost, you gotta treat your job search like a 9-5 job.  That means, get your ass out of bed at 8 AM, eat breakfast (do NOT skip breakfast), and start looking at 9 AM.  Spend the entire 9 AM until noon looking for work.  Do not fuck around.  Look for work.

I can’t speak for every profession as every profession is different.  For Software, I found dice.com, monster.com, and linkedin.com to be by far the most helpful.  Find out which websites are the most helpful by asking everyone you know, especially in your respective profession, what helped and what didn’t.

Take lunch at noon.  Take an hour off.  Don’t skip lunch.  Do not skip meals or else you’ll be thinking about food instead of thinking about finding work.  1 PM, back to work.  That means once again, no fucking around.  Look for work until 5 PM.

At 5 PM, you’re off.  You’re done for the day.

Do this 5 days a week.  Get as many interviews as you possibly can.  Be clean at your interview.  Don’t swear, don’t use too much slang, and don’t be an asshole.  Don’t complain about your former job.  That makes you sound like a whiner.

Find out every details you can about the company.  Show them that you’re interested.  Tell them what you can do for them.  It’s not about you.  It’s about how you’d be a good fit for their company.

Looking for work is hard work and it has to be treated as work.  You cannot slack off, especially nowadays that our economy sucks.

The other thing, you gotta smile.  You gotta be clean.  Don’t overdo perfume/cologne as when I interview someone, I don’t want to smell them, period.  That means I don’t want them to stink nor do I want to smell their perfume/cologne.  I know this sounds nitpicking but I know I’m not the only one who thinks this way.

Be cool.  This is important.  I don’t want to hire an asshole.  Know the difference between confidence and arrogance.

Also,  you gotta let everyone you know know that you’re looking.  You’d be surprised at how many people know somebody that may be hiring.  The more people know, the more chances you got.

These are a few tips.  Maybe later I’ll think of something more and add more.

I get asked all the time about losing weight, how I stay slim.  Well, I’ll be more than happy to share.

I’ve always been slim, but have always had these habits.

1. Walk instead of napping after you eat.  Walking aids digestion.  Napping, well, that will make you fat.

2. Make a switch to whole grains instead of processed grains

3. Eat more green veggies.  Put olive oil and balsamic vinegar on them instead of dressing.  When I say green veggies, I mean real green veggies.  Not just iceberg lettuce which doesn’t cut it.

4. Sweat

5. Walk instead of driving.  Make a habit of doing this.  Driving is bad.  It’s really bad for your body.  Walking everywhere is one of the best lifestyle changes you can make.

6. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.  I know this is little, but seriously, you have to make lifestyle changes if you want to lose weight and keep it off.

7. If you drink, consider drinking a shot of liquor instead of a can of beer.  Those cans of beer add up.  Drink the liquor straight or over ice.  If you add soda to it, you might as well just drink beer.

8. Sweat.  I know I already said it but it needs to be said again.  And again.  Sweat.  You gotta sweat.  It not only helps you lose weight, sweating helps remove toxins from your fat.

Dementia is like cancer. It’s one of those things that will never be cured. It doesn’t help either all the crap we’re putting into our environment.

It is not completely preventable either. We’re living too long. I had a Biologist friend of mine tell me that all men will eventually get prostate cancer if we live long enough. It’s just one of those things.

You can play the odds though. Here are a few tips at preventing dementia:

- Read a lot. Using your mind is your best weapon against dementia.

- Fish oil. Recent studies have shown that fish oil is not only good for heart but people who eat fish/fish oil have lower percentages of dementia.

- Use your fingers. I strongly suggest a musical instrument that uses your fingers a lot. One that you can do warm up exercises and scales too. Guitar, piano, violin, etc., all good instruments to learn to help prevent dementia.

- If you don’t play a musical instrument, do something else to use your fingers like knit, crochet, etc.  You need to use your fingers.

- Have sex a lot. No studies have shown anything that I’m aware of, but I just wanted to say that.

- Don’t eat aluminum. We don’t know if aluminum is a cause of dementia or aluminum retention in the brain is a result. Either way, I don’t want to find out the hard way. Studies have shown that people with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s have higher amounts of aluminum in their brains.

- Be physically active. Studies have shown that folks who are more physically active have less chances of getting dementia.

- Turn off the idiot box and live. They don’t call it an idiot box for no reason. I haven’t found the studies to prove it, but I’d be willing to bet that folks who watch more TV are more prone to get dementia than those who don’t.

So why am I writing this? You’re probably thinking that The Zombieslayer is just a Software guy and what does he know about dementia? I’ll tell you why, it’s been one of my biggest fears my whole life. My brain is everything to me. It’s my biggest strength, and I’d hate more than anything to lose it.

So yes, I’ve done my research. Best of luck to everyone. Unfortunately, luck is also involved and you can do everything right but still get dementia. But at least you can increase your chances of not getting it by following these tips.

Three years ago, we were flat broke. Being used to a good lifestyle, the three of us learned to have fun with no money.

If you need to save money, but still want to have a good time, here are a few tips.

1) Buy a deck of cards. There are dozens of fun games you can do with cards, and each game can last a night. I’ve learned poker, bridge, pinochle, hearts, and spades. When I have nobody to play with, I’ll play free cell by myself. No, not on the computer, but with my deck of cards.

2) Walk everywhere. Walking costs nothing and can be lots of fun. Walking also gives you time to just chill, and eases up stress. It gives me time to think. Walking at a slow pace allows free conversation. I love walking and talking with my family or friends. You know how alcohol loosens up the tongue? Well, walking does too.

I hate jogging. Not only do I not have the knees for it, it’s kind of anti-social, because you can’t really have a good conversation and jog at the same time. Walking is the antithesis of jogging. It’s easy on the knees and you can have the best talks.

3) Learn to cook. Cooking saves a lot of money. We stopped eating out completely when we were broke. Instead, I cooked. We saved so much money that way. I also intentionally cook too much food so we all have leftovers the next day. Saves a lot of money. I often have enough leftovers to share with friends at work. They all think I’m generous. They don’t realize how little I spend because I buy in bulk.

4) Get a library card. My wife and I both read a lot. The library is free as long as you remember to turn the books in on time. For me, I read almost 700 words per minute, so I often read an entire book in a few hours. To tell you the truth, I don’t have a library card. I just read the book there. I also hit the newspapers and magazines at the library as well.

5) Find out where the rich people get rid of their clothes. You’d be surprised. People think I spend a lot on clothes, but I don’t. I get everything from friends or from Salvation Army. I personally own several shirts from Nordstrum worth well over $100 each. I just don’t tell anyone I bought them at Salvation Army for $4 each. They’re in spanking brand new condition too. It’s amazing what rich people get rid of.

6) Find some friends to hike with. Hiking is also free, and it’s fun. You get the benefits of walking and get to see the outdoors. You can birdwatch when you hike too. I used to think that’s an old lady thing to do, but I’ve found it’s quite fun. Junior and I picked up some cheap binoculars and now can identify a bunch of different birds here.

All these things are cheap, or even free. The thing is, you don’t have to spend much money to have fun in this country.

If you have other tips, feel free to share ‘em.

It’s now officially day 5 since doing local honey for my allergies.  I simply put about a teaspoon of it in my tea or coffee every morning and stir it up.

I don’t know what it was this year, but my allergies haven’t been this bad in two decades.  I’ve been coughing and sneezing and driving my co-workers nuts.  Before doing the honey, I used half a box of tissue in only one day.

So I went on anti-histimines.  They work, but the side effect is everything tastes like English food.  I could go on prescription drugs, but you’ve seen the commercials and their side effects.  I’ve done local honey before and it’s worked, so I’m back to it.

Now on day 5, I still have to use a tissue about once every few hours.  Within a few weeks, your body will be completely immune to the allergies if it works for you, as it has for me in the past.  I picked up a bottle of honey from Whole Foods and they have ones specifically marked by the county they’re from.  It was $9.99, but considering what drugs cost, that’s not too bad.

So is it a placebo? Well, placebos never work on me.  Unless of course they’re the sugar kind.  No, just joking.  The honey is working so far and considering the side effects of honey are you should really brush your teeth afterwards, compared to what they are for those drugs with the fancy names and stupid commercials about some dumb guy running in slow motion through the fields.  So if  you have allergies, give it a shot.  It sure beats possibly having headaches, constipation, diarrhea, insomnia, stuffy nose, upset stomach, vomiting, yeast infections, thresh, depression, mood swings, anxiety, and anal leakage.