Why does Target want my social security number to help me save 5%?

On July 19, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

So I finally got a new rim and tire for my bicycle so I can start riding my bike again, but I didn’t get a tube, so we went to Target. The new tubes were only $4.99 each and I bought 2. At the check stand, the checker asked me if I was saving 5% with them and I said no and she asked me if I wanted to apply, it’s free, so I said eh, why not. Naturally she had to void everything and start all over. She asked for my ID and she asked me to tap something on the screen that you pay with a credit card on, then she asked me to type my social security number. RED FLAG! No, nope, nuh uh, no way, forget it, not gonna happen Baby Jane Hudson.

Why does Target need my social security number to help me save 5%? It makes absolutely no sense. I can see if I were applying for a credit card or if I were applying for a job, but she said it’s a rewards card, not a credit card.

She had to cancel it all out again and start over. I paid for the 2 tubes and a bottle of soda and we left, grumbling about it all the way to the door and out to the car lol.

I just don’t understand why Target needs my social security number for that. I had a rewards card with Albertson’s and all they asked me for was my home address, phone number and email address. No problem. I don’t mind giving out that information, but when it comes to my social security number I become suspicious. Where is my tin foil hat?

I love Target, I really do. I was upset when I couldn’t shop there because they had donated money to an anti-gay politician and was thrilled beyond belief when I could shop there again. I was thrilled when they started carrying LGBT t-shirts and had a gay wedding registry. I have always loved Target since I was 16, but this is just going too far.

So no Target, you can’t have my social security number to help me save a measly 5% on my future purchases. Perhaps someone can explain to me why they need that. I would love an explanation.

Xanapus.com is NOT for sale

On July 18, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog5 Comments

Yesterday morning, July 17th at 7:43 a.m., I got an email from someone in China with the subject “Notice of Internet Intellectual Property” and at first I didn’t know what to make of it. I thought it was spam that Gmail missed, and I was going to delete it without opening it, but then I thought, I want to know what this says for shits and giggles, so I opened it. This was the email.

Dear Manager,

(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO,Thanks)

This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration in China. We received an application from kenpo Ltd on July 15th, 2013. They want to register “xanapus” as their internet keyword and China/Asia (CN/ASIA) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflicts with your company. In order to deal with this matter better, so we send you email and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China or not?.

Best Regards,

Abby Wang

I responded with “Yes, I have owned Xanapus.com since 2002. It is my personal website. I am not in China, I am in California USA.” I gave it no other thought, but I didn’t delete the email.

Later, at 6:37 p.m. I got another email from someone else saying this:

Dear Sirs,

We are Kenpo Ltd based in Chinese office, our company has submitted the “xanapus” as CN domain name and Internet Trademark, we are waiting for Ms. abby’s approval. We hope your company will not object our application, because this name is very important for our products in Chinese market. We don’t want your company to use this name in China, we believe our company will become the legal owner of this name in China. Even though Ms. abby advises us to change another name, we will persist in this name and permanent registration of this name.

Best regards

Ye Yun

Kenpo Ltd

It then occurred to me that perhaps I need to find out the value of my website, you know, for shits and giggles. I found out that I bought xanapus.com in 2004, not 2002, but still. I found several websites all giving my website a different value. One said it was only worth $1 while another website said it was worth $16,500 give or take.

Well, the way I see it is that my website domain name is more important to me than it is to them. They want to use the name for business purposes, but I have the name for personal purposes. Xanapus is the name of my Gnome Wizard in EverQuest (image above). I played that character from 2002 until I believe 2009 when I stopped playing EverQuest, but I still play him from time to time and I never stopped using the name Xanapus. I created a hobbit named Xanapus in Lord of the Rings Online and I have also created a Xanapus in World of Warcraft and in EverQuest 2, 2 Xanapus’ in EQ2 in fact. The name Xanapus is like my child and I’m not going to give it up or sell out my child for a mere dollar, or even $16,000. It’s just not happening.

I am Xanapus everywhere on the internet. Ebay, Amazon, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Multiply, MySpace, Hulu… you name it, that’s my handle. Google Xanapus and see how many results you get, it’s all me. I am so emotionally attached to the name that if I could, I would change my own name to Xanapus. No last name, just Xanapus. Not Mike Xanapus, just Xanapus. I am that dedicated.

I know I shouldn’t have, but I responded to Ye Yun with “Choose another name.” I would hate to give up my name for a company who will probably go out of business in a year or less and not be able to get that name back. It’s just not happening.

This actually happened once before. A couple or few years ago I got an email from a company, I don’t recall which country, but I got an email asking about taking the name away from me and it sort of became threatening just like this one seems to have gotten (where he says “We don’t want your company to use this name in China, we believe our company will become the legal owner of this name in China.”) but I simply ignored them and I never heard from them again.

I have invested way too much in the name, this blog and in my website to give up Xanapus.com. I won’t give up without a fight.

Oh and by the way, at the end of that email they said “Even though Ms. abby advises us to change another name, we will persist in this name and permanent registration of this name.” Well, that was the last I heard from them after I said “Choose another name.” So much for being persistent lol.

Update July 18th, 2013 at 9:41 p.m.: Got another email from “Abby”. Apparently, they are being persistent. What they want is xanapus.cn, xanapus.asia and xanapus.com.cn. Since I have the right to the word xanapus, I have bragging rights so if I want to register those 3 domains with them I can, but if not, then their clients have that right, as well as internet keywords. I’m not sure if this is just a scam to get me to buy those domains, or if there really is a company in China who wants to legitimately use those domains. You know what? I am not biting. If they want to register those domains, fine, but they can’t have xanapus.com. They can’t have Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace (even though I don’t use it), AIM, Amazon, Ebay, and all those other websites. They can’t have them because they are mine and I will not be threatened and I will not be scammed into paying China for those 3 domain names. Here is the latest email.

Dear Michel:
Thanks for email.

Based on your company having no relationship with them, we have suggested they should choose another name to avoid this conflict but they insist on this name as CN/Asia domain names (.asia/.cn/.com.cn) and internet keyword on the internet. In our opinion, maybe they do the similar business as your company and register it to promote his company.
You must know Domain name takes open registration, this is international domain name registration principle. Any companies or individuals have rights to register any domain name and internet keyword which are unregistered. Because your company haven’t registered this name as CN/ASIA domains and internet keyword on the internet, anyone can obtain them by registration. As a domain name registrar, we have no right to dispute their application. However, in order to avoid this conflict, as the owner of the name or trademark, your company will get the priority to make this registration in our audit period. If you think these domain names are useful for your company and want to prevent anybody from using them, please inform us. We can send an application form and the price list to you and help you register these CN/ASIA domain names (.asia/.cn/.com.cn/) and internet keyword within dispute period.

Kind regards.

Abby Wang

Today I looked into trademarking the name Xanapus, but that’s like $250. FUCK THAT! If I trademarked it and any company used the name Xanapus, I could sue them, but I can’t afford $250 on the off chance that that will ever happen. All I can do is just ignore any future attempts at trying to scam me into buying domain names in China lol. Look, if you want those specific domains, go for it, but you’re not getting my social networks and you’re not getting .com. It’s just not going to happen.

After doing a little research, I found out that this is a scam. http://hosealim.com/2442/domain-name-renewal-scam-from-china/. I just reported both emails to Gmail as phishing which will most likely block them so I won’t get them again, hopefully.

New Hypoallergenic Hooks from Uncommon Artistry on Amazon

On July 17, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Daily BlogLeave a comment

I ordered these “Hypoallergenic” Surgical Steel Ball & Coil Earring Hooks (X100) from Amazon on July 3rd, 2013. When I bought them, I didn’t realize they were coming from China. If I had known that, I wouldn’t have bought them. In fact, I tried to cancel my order right away, but they wouldn’t let me. I was able to click the link to cancel, but the drop down menu for the reason for returning didn’t have any options, so without a reason to choose from, it was impossible to cancel. My other reason for wanting to cancel was because of the reviews saying these aren’t actually hypoallergenic which I did not read until after I bought them.

So what I did on July 4th was I went to Michael’s and bought some hooks because I was so excited about making earrings and I wanted to buy the hooks because the sooner I could make them, the sooner I could sell them. But I found out that they weren’t actually hypoallergenic. I wore a pair for a couple of days to test them out and my right ear lobe started to get infected. I decided to just keep making earrings and when I finally got some hypoallergenic hooks from Etsy, I took all the Michael’s hooks out and replaced them with hypoallergenic hooks.

The earrings in the image above are the Michael’s earrings on the left and the “hypoallergenic” surgical steel ball & coil earrings from Uncommon Artistry on the right. When you are looking at the 2 bags next to each other, you can tell there is a huge difference in the colors. The Michael’s is like a silver, while the Uncommon Artistry is more of a gray or like a blue gray color. They actually look exactly alike in the image above with the exception of the curvature of the 2 earrings.

I am testing a pair out on my own ears just like I tested the Michael’s earrings because before I write a review on Amazon, I want to make absolutely sure they are hypoallergenic. If they aren’t then I can say that they aren’t, but if they are then I can say they are. If they are hypoallergenic then I can use them and say without a shadow of a doubt in my description that they are indeed hypoallergenic. Otherwise, I have to note that they aren’t and indeed mention that if you have allergies, don’t buy these, buy the hypoallergenic ones.

So I’ve only been wearing them for like a minute and my right ear is already starting to pulse lol. It’s like I can feel my heartbeat in my ear lobe. I’m not quite sure if my ear is still recovering from the infection from the Michael’s earrings. I haven’t worn anything in my ears for weeks, or since that first test that I did. I started wearing plastic earrings in those holes yesterday. When I put the plastic earrings in yesterday, both ears were a bit sore and they were hard to put in at first because I think the holes started closing up or perhaps they were closing because of the (for the lack of a better word) infection juices were causing the holes to close. LOL I didn’t know how else to say that. Anyway, I had to clean my ears yesterday because the earring was a little red from forcing it through the back. They are still sore, so if something is going to happen, it’s probably going to happen fast.

For reference, I finished typing this out at 2:25 p.m. on July 17, 2013. Will update on my findings…

Quality: I have been reading the reviews and more than a few said there were some that were bent and the coil and ball were missing or whatever. Well, I was curious to see if there were any like that and as I was putting the normal ones back in the bag, I was counting them. I counted 112 hooks and there were only supposed to be 100. But, I think that makes up for the fact that 4 earrings were bent, well, 1 of those wasn’t too badly bent, but well, you see in the picture. And 2 of them were hooked together and as you can see 1 is missing the ball and coil. I think I can deal with the loss of 4 earrings and I can unhook those 2 good ones and replace the ball and coil from one of the bad ones. I still come out on top with 108 good hooks, well 2 of which I am wearing for testing that I cannot actually sell, so 106 good hooks lol.

Update 8:39 p.m.: I had to take them out. I’m in agony right now. My head feels tight and my jaw is in a lot of pain, more pain on the right, but in pain on both sides. These are worse than the Michael’s earrings lol. At least with the Michael’s earrings I was able to wear them for 40 hours, I couldn’t wear these for more than 6 1/2 hours. Heck, I was ready to take them out after the first minute because the pain started immediately. I will not be using these earrings, not even for people who don’t have allergies. These are going in the trash. At least it was only $2.32. Next time I will make sure I read the reviews first.

Earrings for Men

On July 17, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Etsy, Hobby, NoomLeave a comment

I’ve been so focused on making the keychains and keychain style earrings for women that I totally forgot that I actually wanted to make earrings for men so I could make some for myself. I finally figured out how to make the studs out of the plastic lanyard “gimp” by only making a couple of stitches before gluing them and sticking them to plastic studs.

This is the pair that I made for myself, I made another pair to sell. When I was a kid, my parents bought me a pair of Vans with the black and white checkered pattern and for some reason I’ve been a fan of the checkered pattern ever since. I made one in every color, except for orange because when I mix the orange with black, the orange is translucent so it turns brown. It’s not pretty. So I have red, yellow, green, blue, purple and white with black. I made them in all those colors to sell, but I will be making myself one in each color.

I also have a pair in silver and a pair in gold. The silver is a solid silver ribbon with a mirror finish in clear gimp. The gold is different though in the sense that it looks gold, but it’s sparkly. When you look at it and tilt it, you see the little color spots seem to change color with the lighting. I honestly don’t know how else to explain it. I would have liked to have bought some solid gold like the solid silver with the mirror finish, but they didn’t have any. They had the same type of silver as the gold, but I wanted solid silver.

These studs aren’t just for the studs, ladies can wear them too, of course. I also have the Breast Cancer Awareness pink color in solid pink, pink and white and pink and black. Anyone can wear those actually. You don’t have to be a woman to wear them, you can be a man who wears them in solidarity, or whatever reason you have for wanting to wear them.

I am quite proud of my ability to make these earrings. I have listed them on Etsy for a mere $3 a pair. I didn’t want to ask too much for these earrings because I am not a professional, these are just a hobby and the only reason I am selling them is to help pay for a new bicycle so I can start losing more weight with Noom. Which reminds me, I’m going to make some solid green earrings for myself for when I start riding my future bike.

So to respond to the men who have asked for earrings, here you go. If you would like a specific color combination, there is a link in every pair of earrings listed for requesting a custom color. Just tell me know which two colors you would like and I will make them.

I gained weight this week

On July 13, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Diet, Food, Noom, Weight1 Comment

Well this sucks. I actually gained weight this week. A few weeks ago I hit a plateau at 197lbs, but throughout this whole journey I haven’t once gone up. This is the first time I’ve actually gained weight.

I’m not worried though because I am confident that my weight will continue going down again next week. Just the other night I weighed myself and I was 192.8 so this is just a minor setback.

I’ve been feeling a bit off today and yesterday. I’ve been having dizzy spells and today I was dizzy and my stomach was feeling crappy, so maybe something is happening with my body that is causing me to not lose weight. The only thing I can think is that perhaps the Michelina’s isn’t agreeing with me. Who knows, but I am going to be strapped for cash this month so I can’t exactly afford to buy the weight watchers.

Perhaps it’s stress that I am unnecessarily putting on myself because I haven’t had a lot of views or sales on my Etsy shop. Since I’ve been browsing other peoples shops and their items, things have been picking up for me. People have been clicking favorite on my keychains and my shop, so perhaps being social will help me get some sales. I was going to save the money from the keychains and earrings for a new bike so I can exercise, but if I have to use whatever money I get from Etsy for groceries then so be it. I just put my Nintendo 64 on ebay, so hopefully I can sell that to help me with groceries, who knows if anyone will buy or even bid on it though.

I’m sure things will work out and next week I will have more weight loss. Who knows, I might be 191 next Saturday. I’m not going to expect it though, if it happens, then it happens. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. No big deal. It’s not like I’m trying to lose weight to fit into a particular outfit by a specific date or anything. I’ve been fat all these years, what’s a little set back going to do? Nothing. I have to be patient and know that the weight WILL come off eventually. I got this far in such a little amount of time, so I’m happy with the progress I’ve already made. No worries.

Until next week I guess.

Update July 15: A few hours after I posted this, I… how do I say this without sounding crude? I found out that the reason I hadn’t lost any weight that day was because I had a couple extra pounds inside of me waiting to get out lol. As Jessica Simpson put it, I had to drop the kids off at the pool. I can still say that I gained weight because I was 193.6 last week and this week I weighed in at 193.8. This morning I weighed myself and I was 193.0 so at least I am progressing. I’m not losing weight as fast as I was in the beginning of my weight loss journey, but I am still losing weight and that is all that matters.

My Nintendo 64 on Ebay

On July 13, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Games1 Comment

Today is a sad day for me because I had to put my Nintendo 64 on ebay. I bought it from someone in 2002 and played it a couple of times, but then I didn’t have time for it because I was too busy playing EverQuest on my computer. I had a lot of fun playing The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, and I never even got to finish it, but I sadly got bored with it when I got stuck and couldn’t figure out how to continue. It has sat in my TV cabinet all these years.

I bought the other 2 games South Park and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil in 2010 I believe. I played South Park for like 5 minutes, but I didn’t play Turok 2 so I never really enjoyed it. I did however have a lot of time with the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time. I only got to a certain point and then couldn’t get past it and gave up.

So I made some videos of the game play so you can see that the system and games do work.

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil – I have to admit, I have never actually played the game so I had no idea where to go or what to do lol. http://youtu.be/sm_0yG-m1Ow

South Park: http://youtu.be/elYhbZu3Bls

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: http://youtu.be/698xbfc4QUE

My original thought was to sell this on ebay so I could save up for a new bike, but I have a feeling I’m going to need the money for groceries this month. I hope we are going to be okay for food, but just in case, I would like to sell this so we can survive.

Michelina’s are more affordable than Weight Watchers

On July 12, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, Food, Health, Noom, Weight3 Comments

I have lost a total of 70lbs over the last 6 months with Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners and Noom. Money is tight and I can no longer afford the luxury of paying $2 for the WW meals, so instead I had to do some research and find some other cheaper alternative with the same calories, fat and sodium as the Weight Watchers.

My partner of 19 years told me that we should buy the Michelina’s because they were half the price, but I insisted on the Weight Watchers for several reasons. The first reason is because the Weight Watchers has the name Weight Watchers. It’s psychological. If you see it is a product for losing weight, you put it in your mind that if you ate that or Lean Cuisine that you are doing good. Another reason was because they weighed more than the Michelina’s, so naturally you want more food, even if it was only 1-2oz difference. My final reason is that the Weight Watchers show up as green in the Noom app while the Michelina’s show up as yellow. Although, the pizza snacks show up as red.

So since times are tough and we don’t have the luxury anymore, I decided to start buying the Michelina’s. They are $1.49 at Albertson’s, but they are currently on sale for 10 for $10. I could be paying .97 cents at Food Maxx, but what’s 3 cents? I also have coupons for $1 off 5, so if I use 2 coupons then I am really getting 10 for $8. Not bad. Although, I printed the coupons and went to the store without them. Ooops.

I wrote a post about how the Weight Watchers are better than the Michelina’s Lean Gourmet which I still stand by. The reason I don’t like the Lean Gourmet is because the sodium is really high and the calories aren’t that much lower than the Zap ‘ems. They have more flavors in the Lean Gourmet too like the meat and potatoes, which is what I miss from the Weight Watchers. The Lean Gourmet meals are good, but I have a huge issue with the sodium content. The Lean Gourmet also show up as yellow in the Noom app, so they aren’t any better than the Zap ‘ems in that regard.

Not all of the Zap ‘ems have vegetables in them so what I’ll do is I will buy some frozen vegetables and when I open the Zap ‘ems, I will pour 1 cup worth on the top and then microwave it for double the amount of time suggested to make sure the frozen vegetables will have time to cook. My favorite is spinach. I’ve added broccoli and brussel sprouts too. I would like to also buy some carrots and put those in there. It just makes it that much more healthier in my mind and it gives me more food.

I don’t have that much more weight to lose to get down to my goal weight of 170lbs. Last night I weighed myself at 192.8lbs, but today it went back up to 195 for some odd reason. Last week on my weigh in day I was 193.6 so I would love to be 191 or 192 tomorrow, but we will see how it goes. I just hope the switch from Weight Watchers to Michelina’s hasn’t made much of a difference, but I will find out tomorrow.

I am trying to buy a bicycle so I can exercise to help me lose weight, but the only way I can is if people help me out by buying a keychain, my hemp choker or bracelet or some earrings on my Etsy store. You can use the coupon code NODOMA for 25% off. It would really help me. The keychains are cheap at $2 and the earrings are also cheap (inexpensive, not cheap) at $5. It’s only a couple bucks, and they literally take hours to make each and I’m not asking for much for them.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Help Me Exercise

On July 9, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Exercise, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

I have been riding my bicycle for years for exercise because I have a bad back which causes excruciating pain when I walk. It’s just easier on my back to sit down. I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease in my lower spine, but since then the pain has gone higher, near the top of my spine. I have recently had new x-rays on my back and those x-rays will tell the doctor whether I need to have another MRI done or not so that I can finally get something done about it. I have already lost 70lbs with diet alone, but I feel that by not exercising because I don’t have a bicycle to exercise with, I am probably not just losing fat, but also muscle tissue and I don’t want that to happen, so that’s why exercise is crucial to helping me in my weight loss journey with Noom.

Since I had my accident a few months ago that resulted in a broken arm, I haven’t been able to ride my bike. It’s not because of the accident, but because of my back tire. See, it was constantly going flat even though there wasn’t a hole in the tube, so I bought a no mor flat hard rubber tube for it and I couldn’t install it and I think trying to install it I might have made things worse. The damage that no mor flat tube caused will end up costing me $30 for a new tire and $30 for a new rim, or more. Well, my bike was only $60 to begin with and I have sunk far too much money into it and it’s old now so I would rather just start fresh with a new bike.

The bike that I want to buy (image above) is from Target.com for $125, although that is a temporary price reduction, by the time I have the money saved it will go up to $140, so that is why I am asking for help to pay for it. I’m not asking for a handout, but simply asking if people bought a keychain or a pair of earrings on my Etsy store. Whatever I make on Etsy will help me buy a new bicycle. I already have half of the money, I just need the other half.

Below are my keychains and earrings and I am making more everyday. The earrings are only $5 and the keychains are only $3.50 because I don’t feel right about asking for any more than that. I always feel bad about asking for money, so that’s why I am selling these so cheap. They literally take a couple of hours to make, so I am working hard for the few dollars I am asking for and also risking damage to my hands because I have carpal tunnel syndrome.

So if you find something that you like, please help me out and if you would like a specific color combination let me know and I will make it. I have the following colors available. Red, translucent orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, clear, translucent blue and translucent pink. Thank you for reading.

Michael’s Earring Hooks

On July 6, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Jewelry1 Comment

I bought earring hooks from Michael’s to use in the earrings that I make to sell on Etsy. I was worried that because the package didn’t say what type of metal they were and they didn’t say they were hypoallergenic, that perhaps maybe I shouldn’t use them at all because I would hate to go through all that trouble to make earrings that people will have to throw or give away because they irritate their skin. I decided to still make these earrings because there are people out there who can tolerate any metal earring.

I did buy some hypoallergenic hooks on Amazon, but I didn’t read the reviews until after I paid for them, and I tried to cancel the order right away, but they wouldn’t let me choose a reason for canceling, so I’m stuck with them. The reviews were basically saying they took too long to ship because they ship from Honk Kong, which I didn’t see when I bought them. They also said that some of the hooks were bent and that they ended up throwing most of them in the trash and that despite saying they were hypoallergenic, they weren’t. So when I get those in the mail in August, I will have to say they are not hypoallergenic, but I will test them on myself before I use them.

Of course I will be buying some known hypoallergenic hooks, but they are incredibly expensive. So unless I actually sell earrings or keychains, I won’t be able to afford to buy the expensive hypoallergenic hooks.

So the earring hooks I bought from Michael’s aren’t doing so bad. I decided to put in a pair at Midnight on the night of July the 5th 2013 and have had them in my ears for nearly 11 hours and this is how they look in my ears. The package had 2 different types of hooks, half of each, these aren’t the same type of hooks in the earrings you see in the image at the top. I have a really bad sensitivity to certain metals and believe me, I will get a reaction after just a few minutes, so if I’ve had these in my ears for 11 hours, then I’m sure they should be okay for anyone else.

As you can see, the hooks haven’t made any impact on my ears. They are the ones in the 2nd hole in both ears. Keep in mind that those holes haven’t had an earring in them for years and I had to push them in a bit because they felt like they had closed up in the back. So if there is some redness, that’s probably why. They do look a little red in the picture, especially the left ear, but there isn’t any irritation and they aren’t red when I look at them in the mirror. They seem fine to me.

Of course, 11 hours isn’t hardly enough time to judge whether these earrings from Michael’s are going to cause a bad reaction, so I will keep taking pictures every day for a week and keep updating this post.

Update: After 16 hours of wearing these Michael’s earrings, I suddenly felt a pressure in my head accompanied by ringing in both ears and slight dizziness. I Googled my symptoms and found out that a lot of people have asked about earrings causing that and the condition is called Tinnitus. I took the earrings out and within half an hour my symptoms eased up, but they are still there after another half an hour. I thought that perhaps it was not caused by the earrings because when I took them out I took a picture and they didn’t look that bad. There wasn’t any redness, swelling or pain. I would think that if my ears were having an allergic reaction to the metal they would at least be red. I didn’t see any redness in the mirror, but I do see it in the pictures.

After having them out for 45 minutes, I decided to put them in Claire’s Ear Wash Antiseptic and put them back in. The dizziness, tightness and buzzing or ringing is still there, but it’s not as bad as it was, so I don’t know what caused it or why, but I’m going to leave the earrings in and see what happens next. I really want these earrings to work for me, because if I can wear them, then I will sleep better knowing that I am not selling earrings that people are going to have issues with. Of course, if you know you have an allergy to certain metals, you know not to buy unless it says it is hypoallergenic, so naturally buyer beware. I will keep them in for as long as I can. See how dedicated I am to my customers that I am willing to risk getting an infection lol.

24 hour update: I have had these earrings in my ears for 24 hours. Well, minus about 45 minutes from earlier today when I got dizzy and had a constant ringing in my ears. The dizziness and ringing didn’t come back, so I’m wondering if that was something else. I have been having dizzy spells, so perhaps that wasn’t related to the earrings. At any rate, I seem to be doing fine. Pictures to come tomorrow afternoon.

40 hour update: I had to take the earrings out of my ears because my right ear was starting to get infected. That sucks. I knew these earrings wouldn’t be hypoallergenic, but I was kind of hoping they would still be okay. Oh well. Here is the final picture.

I forgot to write right ear and left ear, but you can figure that out lol. As you can see, the left ear is fine, it didn’t get affected at all, but the right ear is infected. What’s funny is that neither one of them hurt, even the infected one, so I didn’t even know it was infected until I took the picture.

I will be buying some actual hypoallergenic earring hooks called Niobium as well as plastic earring studs for another type of earring for men. I actually just bought the plastic earring studs so when they come I can figure out what I will make. Whatever it is will be made with gimp like the keychains.

Week 27 with @Noom

On July 6, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, Food, Health, Holidays, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

Today is day 1 of Week 27 and I am very happy to say that despite what I ate for the 4th of July, I actually lost weight this week. So yay me!

We went to Golden Corral and the only thing I ate that day before we went was breakfast, so I was nice and hungry by the time we finally made it there at 4pm. We haven’t been there since January 1st before I started my weight loss plan with Noom, so we wanted to indulge just once, and boy did we indulge.

I was good though. I did have a few plates, but they weren’t packed with food and I logged everything on my plate. I actually remember what I ate.

Plate 1: Salad. I had lettuce, cucumber, chicken, olives and my dressing was light ranch. I don’t care for vinaigrettes. I know I should use those, but I don’t like them. I topped it with some sunflower seeds.

Plate 2: Medium rare steak, penne pasta with a tiny amount of alfredo sauce, corn and spinach.

Plate 2: Another piece of steak Medium Well, broccoli, cauliflower and garlic biscuit.

Dessert: Apple pie, because who doesn’t eat apple pie on July 4th?

So all 3 of my plates were 799 calories according to the Noom app and my dessert was 297 calories. My total calories for that day were 1387/1400. I did end up eating a banana before bed which I didn’t log.

So despite all of that, today I weighed in at 193.6lbs for a weight loss total of 69.4lbs since January 5th 2013. My goal is to get down to 170lbs and I am at 74.62%.

I won’t be going to Golden Corral too often because that is a really bad place to go, but at least when I did go, I was responsible enough to eat my veggies. Besides the pasta and the alfredo sauce, salad dressing, biscuit and the pie, I pretty much stayed away from all the bad foods that I used to eat there. If we ever do get to go back there after I lose the rest of this fat, I know how to eat properly and I can make better decisions.

Bright side, we went to Target yesterday and I saw the bike that I want to save up for. I’ve been selling keychains and earrings on Etsy, so whatever I get from the sales of those things are going towards buying a new bicycle. That is if people will buy them lol. I have exactly $200 worth of merchandise in a box in my room and according to the Target website, this particular bike (pictured) is only $125.99 and is only sold through their website. Although, the bike we saw at Target was blue and it didn’t have a price tag, but we assumed it was $200 just like the other bikes next to it. I don’t care which I get, as long as it’s a good sturdy bike. This one pictured is a Huffy Fresno. Sounds good to me!

A bicycle is the perfect tool for exercise for me since I have back problems, which by the way I had x-rays for so I will get those results next month when I go back to the doctor’s office. I can ride for hours and burn hundreds of calories and walking is too painful, so which exercise do you think is the better one? I say cycling.

At any rate, this week was a good week for my weight loss and I look forward to where I will be next week, so until then..

Update: I am closer to that bike. I have $67.73 saving up, so I just need a few more sales and then I can buy the bike. I basically need to sell either a dozen pairs of earrings or 2 dozen keychains, and then I can buy it. By the time I have the money saved up, the bike will be more expensive, or they won’t sell it anymore so I will end up having to pick another one, but that’s fine. I had a different bike in mind, but this one has the rack in the back which I can put my Townie Basket on for grocery bags and it has a basket in front that I can also use for my Noom water bottle and for keeping the tire repair tools in.

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