Month: October 2012

Clearomizer Burnt Taste Problem Solved

On By Michel McDonaldIn VapingLeave a comment


I bought this Blue Changeable Coil Clearomizer in September from SmokTek.com.  I was so happy with it because I could finally taste the e-liquid flavors.  The atomizer and cartridges that came with my e-cigarette were horrible, but the Changeable Coil Clearomizer was awesome because I could taste the flavor with every hit I took.  It didn’t last very long at all and I was quite disappointed.

I think I got a few days of vaping out of it and then all I got was a burnt taste and I haven’t really been able to enjoy my e-cigarette since.  It’s been a month since I was able to enjoy it, and here is why.  It’s my fault, plain and simple, but I didn’t realize it until today.

This is what happened.  I added some more e-liquid to the Changeable Coil Clearomizer and then I was looking at it and noticed the tip was on crooked, so I went to unscrew it, but it ended up popping out.  I was confused because it’s supposed to unscrew.  I looked inside and I could see the rubber washer sticking out between the threads.  I realized I had tightened it too much and the tip came out because the little metal ring that has the screw threads on it (I know I’m using the wrong terminology, forgive me) wasn’t glued onto the tip, it must snap on or something.

I got the screw ring from the tip unscrewed and put it back on the tip and popped it back in place, then put the little rubber washer back on the tip so I don’t lose it.  I looked inside the clearomizer and noticed there was another washer inside there that was sticking out, it’s the washer that ensures there is suction when you put the tip in so that it doesn’t spill out (I am assuming).  I tried putting it back in place, but that didn’t work, the only way that would go back into place is if I had taken the metal ring off of the plastic of the clearomizer, and that didn’t unscrew, so my only option was to pull it out.  I figured the rubber washer from the tip would keep it from spilling out, and it has worked so far, so I didn’t see an issue.

I put the tip back on and all was good, but then I started noticing that I was getting a burnt taste.  It never even occurred to me that it was probably because I pulled the rubber washer out that was built into the clearomizer.  So I went to the SmokTek website and bought 5 new coils, but they only had two options, 1.8-2.1 and 2.4-2.8.  My clearomizer is the in between which is 2.1-2.4, so I was kinda screwed.  I didn’t know what to do, so I bought the lower one, 1.8-2.1 and they came and I got a burnt taste immediately with the first hit.  I toughed it out, but I couldn’t take it anymore, so I put another one in and got the same thing.  UGH!  It took a few days for those to get to me.

I kept going back to their website until they had the coils that were 2.1-2.4 and I bought them, and it took a few days to a week to get to me and they weren’t even the right style.  I emailed them and got no response.  I waited for a couple of days and nothing.  I went to their website and emailed them directly from there and finally got an email.  They told me to send them back and they will send me the right ones, so I did.  Naturally they didn’t send me the new ones until the ones I sent them arrived, so that took about a week and half to get the new coils.  I got them yesterday and they still give me a burnt taste.  So my theory about the 1.8-2.1 being wrong wasn’t the issue.  That’s when I realized that by pulling the washer out, I screwed it up.

Now that I know that I am the reason that I’m having so many problems, I understand that I need to buy a new changeable coil clearomizer.  So when I get my check, I’m going to do that.  I’m going to buy 3 more changeable coil clearomizers so that if something happens to one, then I will have 2 backups.  Also, I will be able to vape 3 different flavors when I want to.  The reason I will buy 3 is because they aren’t expensive, and they are under $10 which means they will charge me a $1 fee if I don’t spend $10 on my order even though it will be over $10 with shipping.

It really irritates me when I am that stupid that I can’t even tell that I am the reason that something doesn’t work.  I will have to wait until Friday and it will probably take a week to get to me, so I look forward to being able to taste the awesome flavors of the Zeus E-Juice liquids again.

Mockingbird Lane

On By Michel McDonaldIn Halloween, TVLeave a comment

mockingbird lane

I remembered hearing about this when Jerry O’Connell was a guest on Watch What Happens Live awhile ago, but I totally forgot about it until  yesterday afternoon when I was searching through the guide to set reminders for all of my shows.  I am a regular viewer of Grimm, and Mockingbird Lane was on just before it, so it was by pure luck that I checked the guide.  This is why I’m glad I don’t just have a DVR record all of my shows, because I’d totally forget to check the guide and miss things that I wanted to see.

Ok so if you’ve never heard of the Munsters, you are probably a kid and don’t watch TV Land or whatever channel plays classic reruns of old shows.  I watched this show in black and white when I was a kid and it was one of those shows that I just loved because of how grim it was.  I don’t know why I love dark shows lol.  Anyway, this is what someone wrote for the synopsis on IMDB:

“Grandpa Sam Dracula is essentially Dracula who assembled Herman because no man was good enough for his daughter Lily, a sexy vamp. Lily’s niece Marilyn the freak is actually normal and Lily and Herman’s only child, Eddie, has his werewolf tendencies surface in puberty, forcing the family to relocate to their famous 1313 Mockingbird Lane address. Written by Anonymous”

This was quite different from the original series in many respects.  In the original series, they weren’t the same skin color as everyone else.  Of course in the black and white version you can never tell what color they are, but there is a color picture of them and they are quite pale.  Lily for example has a sheet white face with her regular makeup.  Grandpa’s face is kind of blue-ish and Herman’s face is kind of purple.  Eddie’s is also white with red cheeks.  I remember in 1981 they did a movie called The Munsters Revenge where Grandpa and Herman both had green faces.

The thing about the Munsters from the 1960’s was that they assumed that they were normal, and everyone else was weird, so when people had a scared reaction towards them, they didn’t understand why.  The Munsters in this new retelling knew that they were different, but since they didn’t look any different from anyone else, nobody got scared, so that kind of ruined that gag.  Grandpa was still rude to Marilyn for being normal, even though she didn’t look any different than the rest of the family, so that only made his rudeness, well, rude.  It didn’t make sense to make fun of her because she was just as normal as they were, but I guess it did make sense in the context that she wasn’t a vampire or a werewolf, she was a norm.

I called my aunt today to ask her if she saw it and she said that she hated it.  She said there were too many special effects and it was too cornball.  They took away the gag that I mentioned about them not being different, and that’s what she loved about it.  She was a teenager when the original Munsters was on the air, so to her, it’s really an insult that they changed everything about the Munsters that she loved.

There are some things that you don’t mess with, and when you remake all of those old classic TV shows and movies and give them way too many special effects to make them look cool, you are taking away from the charm of the characters.

Speaking of the charm of the characters, their outfits weren’t “Munsters” outfits at all.  For example, the original Munsters outfits were all formal gothic, I don’t even know what period they were supposed to be, but they were formal.  In this new show, they wore regular normal everyday outfits.  Look at the image above, Marilyn was the only one who wore the right type of outfit from the original series.  Grandpa, Herman and Lily wore new outfits, but I can’t really complain about them because they were nice looking outfits.  They weren’t “Munsters” outfits, but they were still nice.  Eddie on the other hand, all he wore was a scouting uniform… that is not what Eddie would wear.  Although even though that wasn’t a typical Eddie outfit, I did respect their choice for giving him something else because his old outfit was a bit of an odd choice for a child to wear.

I really don’t want to complain about this new take on the Munsters because believe it or not I actually loved every minute of it.  I loved the cool werewolf in the woods destroying the scouts camp and tossing the children about.  I loved the house, I want to live in that house.  I loved Herman because he was played by Jerry O’Connell who I happen to love and respect as an actor.  I loved Lily because she happens to be Portia Di Rossi who just so happens to be married to Ellen DeGeneres who I happen to also love.  And I love Eddie Izzard, I think he is an amazing actor and person.  This is the type of show I would love to see come back just as the way they remade it.  I liked it because it was a different take on the show and sometimes a new take is a good thing.

Mockingbird Lane was just a special for Halloween and I hope they continue to make specials in the future just for the fun of it.  It is available on Hulu if you missed it.  Go check it out because it was a really cool show.

Avon Sugar Cookie Dough

On By Michel McDonaldIn AVON, Diet, FoodLeave a comment

My cousin Tabitha Vavrick sells AVON on the internet and in September I bought these Halloween cookie cutters.  They were very inexpensive and I love cookies, so I bought them.  I posted on Facebook that I was going to make them with Sweet N Low instead of sugar because of my blood sugar issue, but people warned me against it and told me to use Splenda instead, but I can’t use Splenda because it gives me the worst stomach cramps.  They told me to use Stevia and that it turns out gives me something I won’t discuss here since we are talking about food lol.

I decided that I would just go ahead and use sugar despite my problem with being a diabetic, but those same people warned me against using the recipe that came with the cookie cutters.  I don’t know why I let people talk me into alternative things.  They told me to find the Paula Deen sugar cookie recipe, which I did and I made and the cookies were awful.  I mixed all of the ingredients right and they just didn’t taste very good.

That was a month ago and a few days ago I wanted to try it again, but this time using the recipe that came with the cookie cutters.  I did it, and it was wonderful.  I don’t mean to give any secrets away by posting this recipe card, but they sell other cookie cutters that don’t even come with a recipe (their 3D Christmas Tree cookie cutters) so I figured that if someone bought that, they would want a good recipe, and this one is the best.

I have had sugar cookies my entire life and they don’t taste like this recipe, probably because the recipe that the professionals use has sugar on top of the cookies and these don’t.  That makes the cookies sweeter, these don’t need that extra sweetness because they are awesome on their own.

You could decorate them if you wanted to, but that would just add more sugar to it and I’ve tried coloring cookies before, it’s not good lol.  The cookies taste awesome alone without any extra sugar on top.

If you wanted to buy some of these or other cookie cutters, buy them from my cousin Tabitha Vavrick.  They have some great prices on a lot of their products.

I can’t wait for December so I can make the 3D Christmas Tree Cookies with this recipe.

My New Website

On By Michel McDonaldIn Web DesignLeave a comment

new website home

My website has been under construction for quite some time now.  I’ve been trying to think of something interesting to do with it.  My problem was, I had so much crap in my old website that I felt overwhelmed.  It’s kind of like I had a hoarding problem, but I was hoarding old images and old information that is no longer relevant.  I decided the best thing I could do was to back everything up on my computer, then delete it all on the website and start from scratch, and this is the result.

The index page is just an image that says welcome to the page, I didn’t take a screenshot because it’s a temporary image.  I will have to work on that page some more.  The home page is like a Windows desktop with icons and wallpaper.  I wanted to make it so that no matter what screen resolution you are using, you could see the full image and it will resize when you resize the browser.  It’s also stationary so when you are scrolling through a page, the wallpaper is always there.  Although the icons on the home page don’t go down that far that you need to scroll if you are using Google Chrome with a resolution of 1280×768 if you have a widescreen monitor, and 1024×768 if you don’t.  Of course the wallpaper is 1280×768 so if you don’t have a widescreen monitor, the wallpaper is squished lol.

Right now (in October) there is a picture of 2 pumpkins for Halloween, but I will change it for each holiday.  I figured it would be easier to use a desktop image for the home page than to have to keep changing the theme for the whole site every holiday.  When I was using FrontPage themes, I would have to change the theme, and then go to each individual page and adjust things.  Sometimes it could take hours or days, so this is just one page I have to change the wallpaper on.

new website eqWhen you click one of the icons on the home page, you will get a page that looks like this.  I decided that I wanted to emulate the Facebook Timeline idea, but with a thinner banner and a 256×256 icon which is the same one you see on the “desktop.”  The game pages (EQ, EQ2, LOTRO and DCUO) all look the same where you see a 256×256 icon of all of my characters images with a bio.  I also thought it would make them more interesting if I gave them a story.  I haven’t finished them all, but I’m working on it.

I don’t really have to have all of this information out there, but it’s fun.  Even if nobody ever looks at it, it’s still something that makes me happy.

I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do with the crafts page, whether I want to add patterns or just images of the things I have made in the past, or both.  I am still waiting for inspiration.  My Holiday page is still empty, but I am working on that.  I made the icon with 4 holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, but I mean what information could I possibly have for anything but Halloween?  All I have are my pumpkin pictures, so perhaps I will change that to a Halloween only page.

Update, I made the change already.

I would love to get some feedback, so please tell me if you like it or hate it and why.

Windows 8 Installation Issues

On By Michel McDonaldIn ComputerLeave a comment

Do you ever feel like your stick in a situation you can’t get yourself out of when you try to install a new operating system that doesn’t want to work properly?  Yeah, me too.

My first computer in 1989 was an Apple //e.  It didn’t have a tower with a hard drive, it did but my friend asked my brother-in-law to put a sound board in there that would make the computer talk when you typed and when he tried taking it back, it fried the motherboard.  All he was left with was the clunky keyboard, 2 floppy drives and the monitor.  He sold it to me in 1989 for $750.  It didn’t have a mouse or any icons, it was all dos.

My second computer was an IBM, but it had a tower with a motherboard and a hard drive, but it didn’t have windows on it.  I only had that for a couple of weeks in 1997 before I bought my very first Windows-based computer which had Windows 95 on it.  When 98 came out, I upgraded and when ME came out I upgraded to that too.  When XP came out, I had already built my first computer and put that on it and gave the one with ME on it to Darrin when we moved to Bakersfield.  Over the last 12 years, I have rebuilt my computer and given Darrin my old hand me downs and I am now on my 4th XP based computer.

I never upgraded to Vista when that came out because I heard nothing but horrible things about it from friends that I played EverQuest with.  When Windows 7 came out I wanted to buy the upgrade, but the upgrade adviser told me that my hardware wasn’t compatible (that was before my latest upgrades).

I tried looking for the Windows 8 upgrade adviser, but they didn’t have one.  All I could do was download the preview from the Microsoft website and try to run that to see if it gave me any clues about my hardware.  Before I did anything, I backed everything up on my backup hard drive in my computer.  I spent hours doing that because I knew something bad was going to happen if I didn’t and I was so right.

When my backups were all done, I bit the bullet and said just do it and I let Windows 8 preview install.  It took 2 hours to install before rebooting.  When I saw the new Windows logo, I got chills because I knew it had worked, but then that went away and all I had was a blank black screen.  I figured it was probably still installing, so I will give it awhile.  I gave it 2 more hours before deciding nothing was going to happen.  I rebooted it and got the Windows logo again, but this time the blank black screen was replaced with a blank blue screen.  I was overjoyed, until that blankness never got filled with words or logos, then I knew I was screwed.

I decided to run the installation again which meant going into the BIOS and making the DVD drive the first drive that runs so it runs directly from the disc, and it did.  It asked me for the code again and I thought SHIT, it’s on the desktop…  I didn’t write it down.  But, luckily it was on the website still.  WHEW!  I entered the code and thought everything would be OK  but it wasn’t.  It found my 2 hard drives and asked me which one to install it to and I chose the one that had my previous Windows installation, but it wouldn’t install.  I figured it didn’t have enough free space, so I had it format it, but it still wouldn’t install.

My only option was to put the Windows XP cd back in and install that, and I did and all was good until I installed the Router software, and then I couldn’t get my internet working.  I spent 3 hours trying to get my internet working to no avail.  I thought it was the router, but it wasn’t because I had the cable modem plugged directly into my desktop.  You don’t need a password, it’s instant on with a cable modem.  It’s like when you plug the cable into a TV, it’s instant on.  Right then I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was more screwed than a hooker who worked for free.

I didn’t know what else to do.  For some reason I thought there was something wrong with my computer, so I reformatted and reinstalled Windows XP again and it still wouldn’t connect.  I called our cable company and they transferred me over to Road Runner support and walked me through it.  He reset our connection from there, but had me unplug the power and then the coaxial cable from the box for 30 seconds and then it worked.  VICTORY!

Well, I was feeling victorious until Internet Explorer wouldn’t stay on for more than 2 seconds without crashing.  I was finally able to get it to stay on when I went into the start menu and clicked Windows Update.  Then my heart sank when Windows Update wouldn’t give me any updates.  I was able to download and install Google Chrome and the updated Linksys EasyLink Advisor to get our wi-fi back on.

I think I read somewhere that Microsoft isn’t giving any more updates to people who have Windows XP, so my only option is to find a way to get Windows 8 to install properly.  Now I am forced to upgrade which probably means a bigger hard drive.  If I am forced to upgrade, then I better get on that bigger hard drive as fast as possible, because that $40 upgrade deal expires in January 2013.

This sucks for me big time!  I hope Microsoft releases an upgrade adviser program for me to install to tell me what hardware will work by scanning my computer just like Windows 7 had.  If they had that, I wouldn’t have had to go through all this crap.  I will have to see what I can do and what I can afford to get this done.

Update: Good news, Windows Updates are downloading and installing, so I’m thankful for that.

If it isn’t one thing, it’s another…

The Uninformed Who Vote For Mitt Romney

On By Michel McDonaldIn Political1 Comment

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzvm7zd4Z-s

How did she decide that she was a conservative Republican? Maybe she was told that she was by people who don’t understand the meaning of the word conservative? Oh and she said Obama is trying to make it so she can’t be catholic anymore? Who freaking told her that?

She said get informed and get educated, but she doesn’t even know what Paul Ryan’s first name is, she said his name is Ryan something. Also, she thinks that Ronald Reagan’s slogan was Vote or Die. I think I lost about 20 IQ points from watching this.

She doesn’t watch the debates, she has no idea what Mitt Romney is all about, all she knows is that Mitt Romney is “cute” and we haven’t had a cute President in a while and that his name is like her cat’s name and that it rhymes with Tit.

What the actual fuck!?!?

I know that I am supposed to be anti-bully and this seems very much like bullying and I really shouldn’t be blogging about someone I don’t even know, but this is the people who are voting for our President.  We REALLY need to be educated, and this chick clearly is not educated at all.  Please, educate yourself before voting, and I don’t mean educating yourself from fucking TWITTER!  Read websites that inform you of who your presidential candidate really is and go to fact checking websites that will tell you who is lying and who is telling the truth.  It’s not about which president you might want to bang, it’s about who is going to lead us and make sure that all American’s have the rights that WE should have.  Get your head out of the clouds and smarten up.

Candy Corn e-Liquid from Zeus E-Juice

On By Michel McDonaldIn E-Cigarette, Halloween, Vaping4 Comments

When I say that I have a sweet tooth, I’m not joking.  I look forward to October every year for the Candy Corn.  It is one of my guilty pleasures in life.  Some people think that Candy Corn is awful because it’s sickeningly sweet.  Everyone has different taste buds so one person might hate it, while someone else might love it.  I am the one that loves it.

Vaping was one of the ways that was supposed to allow me to indulge my sweet tooth without actually having to buy candy or any other junk food, and still be able to maintain my diet and not gain any weight.  It has worked so far.  This Candy Corn flavored e-liquid from Zeus e-Juice taste almost exactly like Candy Corn, but without the guilt.  You get a lot of flavor in your throat when you vape it.  You actually get flavor on your tongue when your tongue touches the tip, and when your tongue is near the tip as you are taking a drag.  You get the best of both worlds with every hit, without any of the sugar, calories and fat that comes with it.

I would definitely recommend this flavor to anyone who loves Candy Corn.  Just for October 2012, Zeus E-Juice is offering this and 3 other flavors in the 10ML sized bottle for only $3.99 while supplies last.  Don’t forget, if you are a new user, enter the coupon code “iget20” and you get 20% off your first order.  Also, when you are checking out, make sure you let them know that Mike McDonald aka @xanapus sent you.

I personally like 80%PG and 20%VG, the PG gives you more flavor.  I would get 100%PG, but I’ve heard of throat burn from that, so I’d just rather not have to experience that every time I vape.

Disclaimer: I am not a paid spokesperson for Zeus E-Juice, although the owners of the company are Twitter friends of mine and they have given me some of their e-liquid samples to taste.  I review them and tweet about them because I want to, not because they are paying me to.

Disclaimer: I don’t encourage smoking and/or vaping with nicotine, I vape with no nicotine so I am not addicted to anything.  Do not start smoking and do not start vaping if you are under the age of 18 as it is against the law.

If you are a smoker already and want to quit or you want to stop smoking poison and start vaping a healthier substitute, might I suggest heading over to www.Smoktek.com and buying a eGo battery, charger (that is compatible with the battery) and a Changeable Coil Clearomizer in your choice of color with some extra replacement coils.  These flavors are so much better in a Clearomizer than an atomizer with a cartridge.  I suggest you use Zeus E-Juice for all your e-liquids because they are simply the best because they add more flavor than their competitors and it’s the least expensive you can buy anywhere else.