So I've decided to try a new diet for at least a month. This diet will consist of organic foods, and no high fructose corn syrup. If I don't feel better after a month, I will decide whether or not the diet is worth the cost. If you are wondering why I would bother to pay the premium for organic foods, let me explain. A couple weeks ago, I had a long talk with a friend, and she had done a lot of reading and investigation into all of the crap that is making its way into our food. She explained to me how it really all started with genetically modified corn and other GMOs (Genetically modified organisms). While there is no research or evidence that GMOs are actually any worse for us, the problem lies in how they are being used. For example, in years past, it used to be difficult to raise corn due to pest control issues and survivability issues. With genetically modified corn, the corn is more hardy, and it can be sprayed with the strongest pesticide known to man, and it will still live. This has allowed us to reduce the number of fields needed to grow corn, as we can instead build corn fields that are miles and miles long. Corn used to be grown all over - it is mainly produced in a handful of states now. So much corn is produced, that the extra corn is used to feed livestock, as it is cheaper than normal feed. The problem with this is that livestock (i.e. cows) can't digest the corn. This is a serious problem for cows, as e. coli grows rapidly in their stomach. So much e. coli grows that the farmers have to manually remove the e. coli from the stomach of the cows. In order to keep the cows alive with that much e. coli in their system, farmers shoot the cows full of antibiotics. The parts that are left over from these cows are recycled as food for other farm animals (most of which are normally vegetarians). This also recycles some of the e. coli, and a bunch of the antibiotics. In order to combat all this e. coli, a "wonderful" new solution has been implemented: spray all the meat with a small amount of ammonia to kill the e. coli! That way, consumers ingest dead e. coli which can't hurt them, and only a little bit of ammonia (no big deal, right?). Don't you feel better now?

Anyone can see the trend that is happening these days. More and more people are getting sicker, and its happening at younger and younger ages. Kids are developing osteoporosis from too much soda, and everyone is developing allergies like crazy. If you looked at people fifty years ago, I bet you wouldn't even see a fraction as many allergies as people have now. I believe it really does come down to the foods and drinks we consume. That's why I've given up on soda and other sugary drinks, as well as foods with ingredient lists that are 50 items long and usually contain high fructose corn syrup. I really wonder if all of the stomach problems I've had to endure were caused by my crappy diet when I was younger. I only wish I could save other people from some of the things I've experienced, but people have to decide for themselves to eat better foods and take care of themselves.

So anyways, I've been eating healthy foods for the past week, and my body has been struggling to adjust. I'm finally starting to feel good with the new diet, so I think it's going to be great from here on out. I had to do a huge amount of shopping at Sprouts, and my wallet definitely did not appreciate that. Nothing is more important than our health though.

In other news, I went to the AVP this weekend, and had a blast watching some really intense volleyball. I'm all revved up to play now, so I have to start training to get ready for the upcoming tournament in Rocky Point. I've also been working on music, and if I can get some free time, hopefully I can release stuff soon. I've been working a lot lately (probably too much), so I haven't had much time for recording, unfortunately. Anyways, wish me luck at the volleyball tournament!

I spent a fair amount of time this weekend working on some more articles for the Japan trip webpage. Check out www.zubersoft.com/Japan09 to see what I've done.

I also had a great time in Tucson, as we went to Mount Lemmon to enjoy the cooler weather. I also spent plenty of time out in the pool, which was heaven for me as I don't have access to a pool up here in Phoenix. Great weekend!

So last night I watched My Bloody Valentine with my neighbor John. I knew it was supposed to be a bad horror flick, so I prepared myself for jumpy moments, and a paper-thin plot. What I didn't prepare for was just how much I was going to laugh (both in disgust at the gore and the stupidity of the movie). I think the most shocking thing of all was the scene where a women runs around completely nude for about 5-10 minutes. I mean, there are plenty of topless women in horror movies. It's expected usually... but not full body shots. I mean, the women runs outside without any clothes on... it was unexpected. I definitely wasn't complaining though

I finished my book Brother Odd today. It's by Dean Koontz, and it's the third book in the Odd Thomas trilogy. It was pretty entertaining, but it wasn't nearly as good as the first two. If anyone out there hasn't read Odd Thomas, and wants to read a terrific book, they should pick it up immediately. I especially enjoyed the book-on-tape version. The reader was amazing.

In other news, I wound up with no medals after the table tennis tournament last weekend. While I was a little bummed by that, I was happy that I at least beat a player who was ranked over 1500. It boosted my ranking from around 1170 to 1260. That's a pretty big gain for one tournament. Considering I didn't practice once for two weeks before the tournament, I did very well. I really should either start practicing, or give it up though. There are just too many things I want to do... I guess that's better than the opposite though.

Tomorrow I go to Tucson, and my family and I are going up into the mountains for a day of relaxation. I won't get anything done as far as my music this weekend... It seems like my only hope of getting stuff done is the week after labor day (I'm taking the week off). I should get a couple more articles done for the Japan trip though. Fun times.

Well, I decided that sleep is for the weak, and that it would be better to put out an acoustic version of one of my new songs - "You Know Me". So I spent the last 4 hours in my studio, and recorded a first cut at the song. The full version will have piano, violins and/or cellos, some form of percussion or drums most likely, and fixes for all of the off vocals and slightly messed up guitar parts. For now though, the acoustic version is pretty good. I'm anxious to know what people think. Hopefully everyone will like it!

I also got the guitar recorded for one of my new songs called, "Wahoo". I finished writing it a couple days ago, and I fell in love with it, because I think it's kind of funny. Once my voice is up to it, I'll record the vocals and lay down the rest of the song. If only I could spend like a week or two just recording music!!

Now to decide if I should even bother going to sleep before work...

Well, I managed to spent 80% of my day working on various parts of the web site. That's not really what I had planned, but I'm the type of person that can't quit once I've started something. You'll notice that there is a maximize button at the top right of the center window. If you click that button, the bottom portion of the screen will maximize to take up all of the space. This should make my website much easier to use on computers with smaller screen resolutions. If you click the restore button on the top right of the web page, it will return back to the normal mode. Whichever mode you enter, that is saved for the next time you visit the site, so you won't always have to constantly switch modes.

I also fixed some random bugs with the mp3 player. You'll notice that the volume slider is much easier to use now (the old one really bugged me). I also fixed all the weird spacing with the song durations.

Now, off to get groceries, do laundry, and if I can find time, record some music!