Inverted-Axis in Numbers

Ok, so I've been working and sometimes computer programs are hard to work with and don't have good options or documentation. So I finally figured something that has bothered me for a while out about Apple's Numbers from the iWorks package.

Inverting the axis on a scatter chart is important in many applications. For instance for me, I wanted to plot values calculated versus depth. Moreover, I didn't want the label to be a negative number; instead I wanted the plot to begin with 0 at the top counting down with numbers increasing towards the bottom.

The way to do this, if you are given "depth" for instance (beneath the surface of the ground) is to do the following:

a) turn the depths to negative, so that they are actually the elevations beneath the surface (with an elevation of 0) or whatever values that you need to be invert similarly.

b) make the scatter plot in numbers as normal

c) in the inspector, edit the "format" for the Y-axis, for instance. Choose Custom... format.

d) create a new custom format. Push the + sign next to where you can input number formats. This will bring up another line where you can input conditions on the format.

e) Choose "If Less than 0" in the pull down menu. Now drag that icon that says "spaces" and looks like a - to in front of the integers icon under the conditional statement. Leave the line that says "If Conditions are not met" as just the integers. Now click out and your y-axis should be inverted as expected.

Hopefully this helps someone, it will at least enable me to remember this task in the future. I will also be doing similar things to make life easier for others (if they are unfortunate enough to google this page!) as I figure things out in Grad school and beyond!

Californication

Ok, so I haven't updated about my situation in a while for myself (who happens to be the main reason this get written and is only one that reads ha). Anyways, there was a big brooha, at least in my small world, about whether I would actually be able to attend UC Davis in the fall for my graduate studies.

Longish story short: I was supposed to go to UC Davis on a fellowship for my first year paid for by the great state of California. This would act as an interim funding source between now (saving) and next year, when I set up my own research funding through the professors (well hopefully through NSF, but that's a whole 'nother story). So the big deal is that I chose to go out there while not accepting better money situations at other schools. However, come July, all of the sudden the state of California begins issuing IOUs to vendors and contractors throughout the state. So I decide to call the Dean of Engineering so see what's going on, find out they are not sure. Blah blah, this goes on until last week.

FINALLY, I find out that my money is going to be there last year and I can at least breathe easy! At least until school starts again and I become crushed under the pressure of being a grad student in a new environment halfway across the world (practically) from where I have lived my entire life. Add to that hardship the fact that my undergraduate institute ran on semesters whereas Davis is on the quarter system and that will be a big transition for me I feel.. Basically, placing the amount of information normally covered in 15 weeks into 10 weeks.

So, there it is. I am going to Davis, California officially and definitely. I'll be there for at least a year, then who knows? Maybe continue to PhD. Maybe law school? Maybe work? It's going to definitely be interesting from here on out. So wish me luck.

Confused

So there is a pretty good chance that I'm just full of it and have no idea what I'm doing. But I've been thinking a bit recently about going into law school after getting my one year master's out in Cali. There are several reasons for this line of thought: probably all irrational and stupid. Maybe this is just a phase and will pass, but we'll see. Alas, I shall elaborate.

I did well in undergraduate engineering. That's fine. I know I can do engineering. I can be at least a decent geotechnical engineer. The problem is that I never really liked the design aspect, which in geotechnical engineering, is pretty much the end all be all of it. At least according to alot of people and is how I feel. I want to do research, but mainly I think I want to teach. This of course requires a PhD.

The turmoil arises with my experiences with research. I do find it interesting and intellectually stimulating I guess you could say. However, I don't know if I even really want to do that. The more I get exposed to different aspects of the business, I find myself a little disillusioned with all things engineering research: governmental and educational.

a) I am interested in the mathematical and computer modeling side of engineering. But, depending on who you ask (and in reality, there really is alot of thumb-waving that goes on that works perfectly fine, at least I feel like it is), there is not much in the modeling side of this section of engineering. Mainly for reasons that I don't really want to get into, if you want to discuss or contend, then send me an email (even though no one reads this haha).

b) Engineering research involves a lot of tweaking and not really alot of groundbreaking stuff. I mean, it seems somewhat exciting, but in other aspects, not so much. It's hard to put it in text, but I have somewhat began to feel it this summer. It's like I (we) am not really doing anything important, just some academic exercise to prove something useless (which is NOT what engineering and good engineers, should be about. Engineering is about helping advance society's well-being). Which is beginning to be my disillusion with it, although maybe this will change when I get out to California, but that is yet to be seen of course.

c) I want to teach. I feel like I really enjoy helping other people understand concepts that I feel like I have a good grasp of. Whether I am any good at it is another story, but whatever. However, I really didn't like teachers who were teaching with no real experience to add to their teaching repetoire. Sure one can do just fine research without industry experience, but I don't think that I would feel confident and satisfied teaching design engineering courses without actually having done this myself for a good enough time period to get an "expert" grasp of the topic. However, as I previously stated, I haven't really particularly enjoyed the idea of design/consulting work, but maybe that is part of it..

All these reasons have led me to begin to (perhaps preemptively and jokingly) consider going to law school. To be honest, when I was a child, I originally wanted to be an attorney but mainly backed out of that when I discovered I was decent at math and problem solving and was not good at public speaking, etc.

Furthermore, about 4 months ago or so, a grad student at state kind of put the bug in my mind of going to law school. The idea would be to go into patent law as a way to use my engineering background to help me prove, legally, one patent over another. At least that is the initial, niave impression that I have. It's probably nothing like that, but I'll find out after I've spent $150k on the schooling right?! :) But really I am open to just the general idea of going to law school and becoming a lawyer. I think I have the mind, work ethic, and desire to do it (maybe not the desire but right now I think I do).

Of course if I do that, that will probably entail taking out loans, which could be trouble, but if I get to find that it is really what I want to do, then it will be worth it and I am confident I would be as successful in that field as I have been thus far in engineering and would be no trouble getting a job to pay those off. Of course I am also an optimist, so there's that..

I suppose my path forward is to talk to a few lawyers and some trusted people to hear their opinions and see what they think. If I continue to think about this in the next few weeks, I may go ahead and start studying for the LSAT and try to take it before school starts in the fall.. Moreover, if I can't do well (I have high expectations of at least 170 to even bother with this whole business) on it, then I'll probably just put this out of my mind for good. But, if I do well on it... then I will have to do some deep thinking and discussing to figure this whole "what you want to do for the rest of your life" crap. Of course I could always do it and then pay off loans, then fall back on engineering. Wouldn't be a problem: I'm kind of a big deal.

California Dreamin'

Tomorrow (Tuesday), we head west to Oregon and California, I will try to do some updating along the way, or at least update at the end. We shall see. Wish me luck and see you later!

End of an Era

Well, tomorrow is graduation. Here it is: the end of an era. The end of my time as a student at Mississippi State University. In about 11 hours, I'll "receive" a Bachelor's of Science degree in Civil Engineering. It's been a pretty hard road, but four year: on time. Have I spent a little too much time studying? Maybe. Am I sad that I have done well? Absolutely not. But in reality I have had plenty of good times, so don't worry about that.

Regardless, I'm heading Cali. UC Davis is the destination for me. Going into the geotechnical engineering section with a view into a PhD. Right now I'm in the master's program, but I will hopefully be continuing on to the PhD. We will just have to see how it turns out after the first couple of quarters (they are on quarters out there, so school won't start until September).

I chose to go to Davis for a couple of main reasons. Although I had the chance to go to more high profile engineering schools (Texas, Virginia Tech) I don't want to simply do consulting/design, although maybe I would like to at some point. Right now, I see myself doing high end research work. I felt like I could best accomplish this at Davis. Davis seems to be more fundamental, "first law" type of place in geotechnical engineering. There is a dedicated modeling professor and several classes to this topic. Although I may come out with a PhD with less lab/practical experience, I think I will have a better feel for modelling and theory. Of course this is all subjective and I won't really ever know. My feeling is that it will be more about the research experience and my own innate abilities than anything. Regardless, we'll see, and hopefully I will get a feel soon and can report against about it.

Another reason I chose to go to Davis is that I have always wanted to live in California. Although it will be expensive and hard to keep up with expenses, I think the experience will be good for me to live somewhere completely different than what I have been used to. I will be going into a situation where I am completely uncomfortable and don't really know anything or anybody. I will have to learn how to be myself, and basically to find myself. And interesting road indeed. It gets no more different, social-politically, geographically, culturally, than switching from Mississippi to California. I am excited, and I am ready.

Plus I have 3 months to make some good money and be comfortable working in Vicksburg this summer before I make the big leap. Wish me luck!

Update

So, I haven't had much to say in a while. But maybe over a few minutes this afternoon on the first day of March I will have something on my mind, we'll see how this goes. I have three things I want to talk (probably to noone, lol) about today: 1) Lent, 2) Grad School, 3) the economy.

1) For lent, although I don't go to church and also I'm definitely not Catholic, I decided to give something up this year, starting after the amazing debauchery that was Mardi Gras on Ash Wednesday. I know what may be going through your mind. This guy is a sucker for pain, he just likes to give things up for no apparent reason. And you would be right. I don't know I just like to have something to think about and goals to strive for all the time it seems.

Regardless, this time I am actually giving up three things. Facebook, meat, and coffee.
Facebook is fun and it's a good way to keep in touch with your friends. But man is it a bad time waster, then again so is this.. Also, as time comes for me to get into grad school, I don't want anything that I wouldn't want people seeing to show up somewhere. In fact when I get back on Facebook (because all in all, I probably will, it IS useful in some capacity) I'm probably going to clean alot of pictures and things up for the future.
Yes, I gave up meat again. It will be harder this time since I went back to meat after the Cleanse, but I'm prepared. There will be alot more soy milk drinking and tuna fish eating and I'll probably get mercury poisoning but it's all good..
Coffee.. that was what I was going to originally give up.. all concentrated caffeine things. I mean it's not big deal but I do love coffee a couple of days a week.

2) Grad school. I have applied to six grad schools for a Master's in Civil Engineering (geotechnical): Virginia Tech, UT Austin, U of Missouri at Columbia, NC State, Texas A&M, and UC Davis. I'm not counting any schools completely out yet. However, suffice it to say that the consensus among some people that I know that I have talked to are that Virginia Tech, Texas, and Davis are among the best schools in the field. Thus far, I have been accepted to everywhere. However, I have only received hard offers from two schools, Virginia Tech and Texas. I won't go into details but I am waiting on everywhere to send me something before I may any decisions. I'm pretty happy with how it's looking so far and I haven't really come to any big decisions. I'll probably be waiting for a few more weeks (during which period I will be visiting at least those two schools and possibly a couple more) and will probably hold a press conference to announce my decision sometime in early April, no big deal. I'll keep update and announce to all my adoring fans when I figure something out.

3) The economy. Oh my. The economy has continued to go down the drain since my last dissertation on the subject. Since then, the recovery package has passed both houses and was signed into law by President Obama. Total pricetag: $787 bn. Hmm. What do I think about this?

I think there are alot of good things in this. Like I said before, I'm not sure that if the government doesn't at least put on a facade of doing something, the economy will come back. In fact, this is a very very bad economic cycle. It's not like anything before. Without government backing, alot of companies would have already fallen. Including the auto industry, but we'll get back to that later.. Some might say (thanks Noel Gallagher) that this could just be prolonging the death of the companies and the true collapse of the global economy. That's a possibility. It's also a possibility that we could actually see some rebound in the next year or so. I believe this will happen. How much of it was due to government intervention, I'm not sure. But I do believe that if we don't help the country, it will fall much faster.

However, there is alot of stuff that went through that I do not support, and I think is very wasteful. However, if certain red states don't want the money, don't take it. It's OK Haley Barber, let's let the schools deteriorate, and our roads pothole and bridges collapse. You were a Washington lobbyist originally anyways. Let's ignore the fact that our governor's old lobbying firm was the first or second most powerful in the nation and backed the tobacco industry in the 90's. No big deal.

So, what do I think will fix the economy? I'm not sure. I do know that letting the country fall after the big mistakes of the past 15 years of basically Laissez Faire is not the way to do it though. Some would argue, I invite them to.

We SHOULD however, let GM fall. Yes that would lose alot of jobs, but they are being propped up by the government right now. If they go down, maybe market space is opened for the competitors who could then fill that gap, but right now we are just throwing money in the fire by giving them these loans that will never be repayed.. a) they haven't been making money in several years of decent conditions. There is no effing way they are going to begin making the type of money needed to stay viable AND pay back the American people in an economy like this and gas prices eventually going back up, and their refusal to accept new transportation technologies. (see the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car").

AH, well that it for now. I'll post some more when I get more stuff to get off my chest. If you have any comments or questions, let them lose.

Economics.. Joe style

Why do people still say to let the economy fix itself? I mean, really? Largest downturn since the Great Depression, where 25% of American citizens were without work?

Let's think about this for a second. Even if you doubt whether FDR's New Deal got us out of the Great Depression, one has to admit that it did get people into jobs and America's spirit back up. Moreover, if one says that it wasn't government intervention that restarted the economy, then it was MOST DEFINITELY the American entrance into WWII, which got industry moving in a forward motion to support the war, and got American into "jobs" as soldiers.

Now, fast forward to today's economy. Argue or not, the past 8 (read: 20 tbh, including Clinton) years our nation's spending has skyrocketed due to "wars" and other assorted objects of desire for the administrations: so much for small government and spending on the Republicans' half. In addition to that, the people that control the money in American (bankers, the stock market, because they really do..) have gotten entirely too overconfident.

Some examples of how this overconfidence has gotten us into this quagmire..
1) Oil prices have (had until the economic downturn) soared on the backs of the market-based oil economy. i.e. investors put money into oil, forcing the prices to go up, thusly, these speculators make money as the oil prices rise and the average person suffers. That may not be entirely true, but that is some truth in it.
2) The housing collapse was based on similar principles. Banks were giving cheap (bad) mortgages to people who didn't need to be buying houses. They banked on the assumption that housing prices would continue to rise and people could use the inherent worth of their homes to continue borrowing money etc. Unfortunately, this scheme fell apart when enough people couldn't sell their homes. Thusly, we are in a home-owning crisis.
3) The boys on Wall Street, I really don't know what to say about that. All I know is people stopped borrowing from the banks, thusly the economy slowed. When that happens, the markets fall. Although these big corporations were not making money, they were still paying executives upwards of $500k for taking them into bankruptcy. When the markets fall, everyone else falls because investments (retirements) lose money and now noone can retire. Only there are less jobs to get because the companies aren't making money from the slow economy and noone is investing funds into their stock, therefore they aren't getting outside cash flow.

Now, on the stimulus package on in Congress.
Republicans argue that we need smaller government and less spending. FACT. This is completely true, as a country we are overspending and overreaching our bounds. Although I'm not sure why express concern, because we have been doing it for 50 years.

Democrats argue that the stimulus needs to happen now. FACT. Obviously, this is true, our economy is in a downward spiral (although one may argue that the markets have reached their bottoms, around 8000 in the Dow). Although I generally believe in the invisible hand, I don't think now is the time to rely on that hand. We need to at least do something to help it along. The economy won't correct itself for no reason. People aren't just going to go out and start changing their ways and spend in a BAD economy. It's contradictary! You save money when the money is tight, not spend it. It makes sense. Therefore, you have to have a STIMULUS to make people start spending, lending, and borrowing again. Thus, government intervention. It's not Socialism, it's called reason.

Although I do not believe that the current stimulus package is the best that it could be (it is not at all bipartisan on the House side), we need to get something in the barrell right now. This could, and it may could not, but we shall see, be what the economy needs right now.

On Obama, I like him. I have a theory that the President is really just a figurehead, he is a person to "lead" the nation, i.e. speak for it. He doesn't actually do much of a ruling of the country (except for instance executive orders like closing down GB). Therefore, there is no better person than a person who speaks well. And speaks well, at least some of the time, for the average person in America.

However, I do not particularly like the way he has started off his administration this year. 3 nominated candidates for White House positions have tax leins because they failed to pay their taxes? Why is this? Of course one of them, at least, may have just been confused (the lady who simply failed to pay a nanny tax of some sort), but still there is little excuse for this lack of foresite. Furthermore, I think the main problem that some people have in relation to the administration and the stimulus is that it is not at ALL bipartisan like Obama's campaigns somewhat promised. Of course there is plenty of blame to be placed all around on that fact. Republicans will not concede anything when it comes to spending it seems in Congress. Additionally, the Democrats (especially in the House) have given nothing to the Republicans yet. Of course they really don't have to since AMERICAN voted in Democratic leadership majorities in both houses.

Alas, we shall see what happens with the stimulus in the next few weeks, and then we shall see what happens with the economy in the next few months/year.

Stay Out!

You know what makes me pretty mad? You may or may not, but you are about to find out if you read this.

So I'm driving around town today and I drive by one of the classic Baptist (I think, maybe not but it's a decent assumption) church. In the yard around they had placed some hundreds, or thousands, of white crosses and a sign that says something about 1000 babies killed by their mothers in this county.

I'm assuming that this is a response to President Obama's executive order on abortion. The order lifts the ban on federal funding to organizations that have anything to do with abortion. Be it education or anything. Additionally, the ban expanded to organizations that didn't even get their funding for abortion-related activities from federal funding. As far as I'm concerned, if a health education organization even acknowledged abortion, then it was banned.

It's one thing to not approve of abortion on a personal level. That's ok with me, but why try to demean people who make that decision? Not everyone in this world (6+ billion, right?) has the same moral code on things like that. Just because someone believes something different, doesn't mean they are wrong. My problem comes with these demonstrations that try to get into other people's business.

If someone wants to get information on this for one reason or another, so be it. People should stick to their own business on things that have no direct effect on them. If you don't like it, and it doesn't hurt you, then don't worry about it. I'm not saying that people should just go at whimsy to get abortions, but people should be at least allowed to get information and counseling on these things. Luckily Mr. Obama is not falling to these molders of people's mental clay and allowing them to change what he believes in; I hope he continues to stay away from Ann Colter and crew. :)

Blah, that post doesn't even make sense. Of well, at least I got some of it off my chest.

Post-Cleanse

Ok, well.. The past 24 hours has been very interesting to say the least.

Without going into too many details (you really don't want to know haha) the past 24 hours (i.e. since I have finished the Cleanse and returned to eating.. well basically everything in sight) have been one of the most rollercoaster-esque (word?) times of my life.

Well, we decided to head to a friends house the break the fast at 12:01 AM this morning.. in Indian style. Curry chicken was, of course, the meal on tap for the event. Great meal btw as well.

However, a late addition to the breakfast party also included some indulgence into the word of fermented beverages. Advice to anyone thinking about cleansing in any way: take it easy on drinking following the cleanse.. :) Regardless, the past 24 hours has been very fun, and very not fun at times. That is all.

Moving on, it has been good since I have returned to flavor. I will continue to savor the foods that will be fueling my body again, at least for the next few days, much more than I have, perhaps ever, I have a feeling. Additionally, I am very glad to see the return of coffee and tea: two much missed beverages for me and my awareness.

So, what do I have to say to sum up this experience? 1) This was probably the single hardest thing I have ever done in my life. 2) I lost 8 pounds in 2 week: aka alot, but not as much as I anticipated to be honest, and it will probably be back by two days from now. 3) If I ever do this experience again, I will stick to 10 days and plan it out much better next time. 4) I do not really feel much healthier than before, especially since I have been eating alot of ice cream in the past 24 hours. 5) I do feel that I have a better appreciation for food and tastes than before, but I'm not sure how long this will last.

I am glad, overall, that I had this experience. Maybe not so much for the physical attributes of it, but moreso for the emotional and mental portions of the journey. It has been quite a journey.

Where do I go from here? I'm not quite sure. I am going to just eat like I had for 21 years for the next week until Chinese New Year (next Monday) at which point I will make beef and brocolli. Then I will come to a conclusion about how I would like to semi-permanently suite my diet. I don't feel like I will return to ova-lacto-terianism like I did last semester. However, as I sit now, I feel like I would like to cut out MAJOR entrees of beef and pork when possible. I.e. when I move out of MS permanently (presumably) I will not eat any steaks or pork chops etc. but not be strictly go against chicken or turkey or dishes with dark meats in them. I know this is getting out of any sort of vegetarianism, but that is just how things are looking as of now.

Additionally, I am going to try out another challenge, influenced by a number of factors. After my birthday in two weeks.. I will be attempting a 30 day alcohol free time. This will be good for me in multiple ways, hopefully. But I will get more into this as the time gets close.

Until then, ciao.

Day 10

Ok, my original plan is now over. So my plan for the original cleanse has been achieved, to much difficult success.

From here on out, shouldn't be too bad. I am just waiting for Monday morning!! Hot pockets and grits will prevail in my stomach come this time.

Day 9 over

Four more days. That's pretty much all I have to say.

Regardless, I feel pretty good. I say pretty, not just good, or very good, or fair. I mean pretty good. I don't feel extraordinary as some reports suggest on this diet.. Therefore, I'm not certain that one can derive the "eurphoric" feelings as described by this. It is not terribly hard to do after about day 6, but it's just plain annoying and you continuously look forward to the day you stop, which of course of MLKJ Day!

Luckily, the long wait will soon be over and I can get back to deliciousness of pseudo-vegetarianism. I shall cherish this day for all time, until perhaps next time. But I can't even discuss that possibility right now... I'll wait till Monday night over raw fish..

Also, I am tired of waiting on grad schools, they need to hurry up and tell me my fate.

Day 8

Ah.. well nothing important.. I may have to go get some more juices and fruits and things tomorrow because I can not tonight.. big basketball game, got to go suffer through the smells of the Hump dogs and cookies.

Anyways, a list of the foods I will be enjoying in my first few days of next week.

Oatmeal with peanut butter and honey.
Progresso vegetable soup (got to take it easy, son)
Hot n Ready Little Ceasar's cheese pizza.
Spicy Tuna rolls.
Waffle Hut hashbrowns
Potatoes Au Gratin!!!!!111!

Day 7

Ok, it's the morning after day 7, but whatever.

Thank god that it's the downhill point from this point. It's not that it's bad or that my cravings for flavor are near as bad as they were last week. I'm just reading to get this crap over with.

Not regretting anything, actually I am right now since I have 5.76 more days left, but I am glad I've done this. I will tell you have a great appreciation for food right now. And coffee. And bananas foster. Also, it would suck to be a cave man without fire. I will tell you that much.

Regardless, the halfway point has come and gone. I'm feeling pretty good and trying to stretch my food out to make it on what I have, although I may have to go to the store later to get some foods, and stock up for the meals that I will be cooking next week with fervor.

Otherwise, nothing incredibly to update about..

Zai jian.

Weekend Update

Currently, it's 4:30 on Sunday afternoon. Going ahead and posting on Saturday and Sunday.

I mean, there's not much to say. I played from Bball yesterday, got pretty tired, but I'm also out of shape so.. Regardless, got to keep the energy coming into the body more than normal to get any production out of it when you're doing exercise on the Cleanse.

Otherwise, energy is going well. I am really looking forward to next Monday though and some real food. I feel fine, but I still want some damn cooked food!!! You can't imagine the desire for even decent food until you can't eat it. I know for at least the first week after this I am going to appreciate the little things in food much more than before. We have even made a list of the things we will get to eat when we can. Yes this is just torture for us, and it's not like we had to go through this. Still I'm not upset that I started, and have no plans to stop as far as I've come now: almost halfway.

In other news, United 3-0 Chelsea.

Also, I was told I looked like death today as I got ripped off for $8 at Ruby Tuesday for the salad bar. I was certain that it was only 3$ but apparently certainty can be deathly wrong. Regardless, one of my friends said I look like death, but I'm not sure that Death doesn't look like me. I'm really sure that I look all that different from 1 week ago, other than I have lost some weight.

Nevertheless, further on we trudge into the famine, I mean Cleanse.

Good night and good evening.

Day 4

Day 4, Friday has come and is almost gone. Although I think I will head out to a friends house here in a bit and challenge the world.

Regardless, today went pretty well, I was able to keep hunger away during my 3-hour class stretch. Eating a few carrots and other things while walking between classes helps alot with that, also eating a good breakfast is important.

The afternoon came about a test of a pick up soccer. It went pretty well for about an hour then I got tired. But that was more likely due to lack of fitness than anything else. Regardless, it was now time for smoothies.

We went to Kroger and bought a plethora of fruits and et cetera. Proceeded to make delicious smoothies and greatness. Mine consisted of banana, strawberry, black and blue berries, mango, orange and apple juice, and of course spinach. Sweetness. It's working out pretty well so far.

All in all today was good, I felt good for alot of the day, but I am definatelly looking forward to next Monday.

Well until next time.
Goodnight and good evening.

Day 3

Well day three is about to be over. After the scene this morning everything else went pretty well for the day. Nothing too bad.

Not much to update about, I am just trying to chug along for the next 11 days. It's a long time from now, hopefully not too long.

We did discover some new things to eat, we think. Honey all natural honey that is should provide a pretty good source of calories for the week. Additionally, Muesli, which is made from raisins and raw rolled oats should provide a nice breakfast for the next week. I can't prove it's necessarily completely raw, but definitely devoid of preservatives and additives. At the very least it is raw oats.

That's about all for this update, shall continue tomorrow. I believe tomorrow night instead of the regular drinking in college, the three cleansers shall make smoothies (lame, yes..) for dinner/dessert.

Until later.

Good evening and good night.

Ok, so I got up this morning and felt really really bad a weak. However, after 30 minutes and drinking some orange juice, eat a banana and some walnuts, I feel much better, still kinda bad.

Lesson to be learnt: don't skimp on the food in the evening. From about 7PM on, I only ate a salad from Wendy's and part of a bell pepper. Bell peppers are nasty little things raw, by the way.

So, thusly, I will try to make it out until Monday with what I have, but I think I will go to a more fruit-based diet next week like the new contestant Matt is doing. It may be worse for my blood sugar, but at least my blood sugar won't be down like it was this morning! Can't have that happening.

Well, will report on the rest of the day later on tonight. Ciao.

We'll day two is over. Only 12 more to go. But there is good news! And it will help me (us) alot in our journey. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait to find out at the end of the post.

Today I had similiar foods from yesterday. Only I had a 3 hour bloc of classes where I didn't eat, so I get pretty hungry and in kicked the withdrawals. It was pretty sh*tty needless to say.

I have discovered that nuts are the key. They suppress your appetite. Additionally, they provide a decent amount of protein and much needed caloric energy. I'm still trying to eat as much as possible of these non-high-calorie-dense foods continually so I can get as many calories as possible in to try and limit muscle trophy. I had the pecans, spinach, and carrots at school again today. It's hard to get full on just the vegetables so the nuts are very welcome.

It's not too bad. They worst other than the mid day craving was when my roommate asked me to go to Wendy's with him tonight, he of course had a baconator, which wasn't bad for me because I have been used to no meat from Vegetarianism, but the Oreo Frosty was terribly tempting as well as the fries. This trip, however, leads me to today's news...

We have recruited another journeyman for our cleanse experiment. During our trip to Wendy's, I was outlining the Cleanse to Matt, and he fell into my attorney trap and was convinced to do it. So now we have three members in our boat sailing to the legendary land of Cleanse. His will be more of a fruit diet because he is limited in his tastes for vegetables though. We shall see how it goes.

Good evening and good night.

Day 1 report

So day one saw the beginning of the cleanse and now I am at the end of the road for the day and we shall see how it goes.

I'm feeling decent right now. When changing things, the first few days are always the hardest regardless of what it is so that is not unexpected.

Started the day off with an apple and glass of classic H2O. Made myself and all day lunch/snack with a handful of spinach, 2 large full carrots, a handful of pecans, and a pear. Over the course of the day I just snacked on all these things. I think this may be a key, if you keep snacking on these types of foods, the withdrawal symptoms from regular eating are lessened. You get fuller by continuing to eat and your body is unable to send signals to your mind that you need food, because you are continually eating. Additionally, the continuous eating is important because supposedly you still need to get a minimum number of calories to keep your body from metabolizing your muscles. By eating alot of these (relatively) low calorie foods, you stay full and are able to get more calories into you to make sure you stay safe during the cleanse.

As far as temptations, today had a few, friends eating nice au gratin potatoes and fajitas, etc. But the worst came about 4PM this afternoon after playing some basketball, I had a real bad craving for some cheese pizza, not sure why but it just came to me. I held fast though.

Regardless, since there is two of us doing this cleanse (Charles and myself) we should be ok, and be able to help each other along in our quest for gloring.

Good evening and good night.

First Post

This is officially the first post of the blog for the first cleanse. The 2009 Joe Cleanse. I'm using this blog for now to track the progress of this test.

Well, the "Cleanse" consists of not a fast, but a cleansing diet. Basically the raw foods diet. The plan is to eat only things that are edible without cooking. Mainly fruits, vegetables and nuts. Along with some water and of course 100% fruit juice.

This plan is an attempt (probably misguided but whatever) to clean the system out. No processed foods (juice.. eh) nor anything that has been cooked. Supposedly, there are enzymes in alot of raw foods that help clean out the system (don't think about it too much, it's not pleasant). Plus it's good to keep all the good stuff that taste good out of the system for a bit. Maybe it will flush everything out.

So the plan is to do it for two weeks... starting today, January 6th, 2009. It's not just me though, it's Mr. Charles Mullen who is also participating in this adventure. He started yesterday, but it's whatever.

Ok, so it all started with my romp into vegetarianism last fall. That went well and I liked it, felt reasonably healthier, maybe except the many fries and shakes from burgerking but that's another story. Anyways, after my trip in vegetarianism, I went home for the Christmas holidays. Enter the Dragon aka lots of drinking and eating of meat and plenty of unhealthy things.

Fast forward a bit and I was reading through some other blogs and such and this guy talked about doing something he called the "Master Cleanse." This MC consists of fasting basically. Drinking only a mixture of water, maple syrup, lemon juice, and ceyanne pepper. Additionally, one on the MC would drink a glass of saline in the morning as some sort of reverse enema. This is to be done for 10 days and supposedly after the 4th day you feel better than ever.. well I'm not sure that's true but whatever.

So I took the idea and ran with it a bit. I didn't think I would survive (mentally or physically) for 10 days without any real sustiance. I have gone a level down... this raw food diet. I think it will work out. We'll see how it goes. Maybe it's not the greatest idea in the world but it is a test of my self-discipline as well as a way to get back into pseudo-vegetarianism and etcetera.

Anyways, wish me (us) luck in the next 2 weeks and hopefully it goes well!