Tag: photos

My 50lb Weight Loss – Before and After Pictures

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, Noom, Pictures, WeightLeave a comment

weight loss before and after 50lbs

So yesterday was what I consider to be a milestone.  I weighed in at 212.6lbs which brings my weight loss total down to 50.4lbs lost since January 5th 2013.  So yeah, I feel like bragging lol.

Last night we went to a local event where a woman named Erin Davies is driving cross-country to show her documentary called FagBug and talk about her experiences with vandalism and homophobia and to raise awareness on the subject with her car called the “fagbug.”  When I heard she was coming, I knew I had to go because I wanted to see the car and have my picture taken with it.  And since it would be the first picture of me with 50lbs weight loss, I thought it would work as a great sort of after picture, even though I’m not finished with my journey.

Anyway, so let me give you a rundown of the images you see above.  Top left was from Christmas 2004.  I am actually not positive what my weight was back then, but I’m pretty sure it was 230 give or take.

The second picture on the top is a picture that was taken at Hearst Castle in Colorado in 2005.  It is also the picture that I used as my author picture since it was the best picture I have ever taken.  I hate taking my picture as a fat guy, but love pictures when I’m skinny so perhaps I will be taking a lot more photos when I am finally down in weight.

The bottom left picture was taken last year in May at a PFLAG meeting with Robin Tyler.  I had no idea until after the picture was taken that my stomach was actually that big.  I was beyond mortified, but kept it because I didn’t want to delete the only picture of me with Robin Tyler.  I mean, she’s Robin Tyler!

The bottom right picture is my before picture.  That is the one I took at the IHOP that we went to on New Years Day just before I made the decision to go on this weight loss journey.

Finally, the picture on the right is how I look today.  You can certainly see the difference in my neck and my face.  You probably can’t tell with the black shirt, but believe me, it’s thinner than all those before pictures.  My stomach (waist) was 50” and now it is down to 43”.  So yeah, it’s thinner.  Also my thighs are really skinny now too.  I didn’t think to measure my thighs at the beginning or every week because the Noom app didn’t ask me to, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have still kept a record.  It doesn’t matter because they are thinner now.  Oh and thank you photographer (my partner) for taking the picture with me talking instead of smiling lol.  That was sarcasm of course.

My total weight loss since January 5th is 50.4lbs.  My goal is to lose 63lbs, so I only have 12.6lbs to go.  Although, once I meet my goal I will adjust the Noom app so that I will go down to 170 because 63lbs was just a small goal to get me started, my true goal is much higher than a measly 63lbs.  I was afraid that if I set too high of a goal, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.  I think that I have proven to myself that not only can I meet this goal, but I can keep going until all the fat is gone.

Look out world, here I come!  My next picture will be when I have lost 63lbs when I weigh 200lbs or less (if it’s like 199.8 or something).  See you then…

Professional Photo Albums

On By Michel McDonaldIn AdLeave a comment

Have you or anyone in your family recently have a bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, christening, wedding or anniversary party that was so special that you wanted to preserve it forever?  If so, did you or they have a professional photographer?  Did they print out a photo album?  If so, what was it like?

Wouldn’t you just love to have a book made that shows the beautiful colors in all of your pictures from your special event with a beautiful hardcover and thick pages that will last many lifetimes?

I would suggest heading on over to Photo Productions because they make quality photo albums that you will cherish forever.

I was looking at the slideshow in their front page and they really do look awesome.  I’m not gonna lie, they are pricey, but they are quality and that is what you look for when you are preserving these wonderful memories.  You wouldn’t get married in a cheap wedding dress you bought at Wal-Mart, so why would you buy a cheap photo album to put your biggest memories in?  Basically, you get what you pay for.

They come in eight different album sizes, two orientations and three design styles.  You can choose anywhere from 10 to 35 pages giving you 12 to 212 photos for your album.

They are in the United Kingdom and they offer free delivery.  Like I said, you get what you pay for.  If you aren’t in the UK they do ship internationally at an extra charge.

Check them out and see how awesome their albums look, well don’t let me stop you, go for it!

Brand Thunder Holiday Browser Theme Contest Results

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog2 Comments

On November 29th 2011 I wrote a sponsored blog post for Izea’s Social Spark to advertise for Brand Thunder, which is a cool website where you can create browser themes for Internet Explorer and Firefox.  One of the requirements was that I create a holiday browser theme and enter in their contest to win an iPad2.

On December 17th 2011 I found out that my browser theme was good enough to be in the top 5 browser themes eligible to win an iPad2.  I asked for votes here on my blog, and on Facebook and Twitter.  I wasn’t as successful as the 3rd and 4th holiday browser themes because not enough people voted for me, so I lost.

Well, I didn’t really lose, I was still in the top 5 so I consider that to be successful enough.  Because I was in the top 5, I won a $25 gift card for Amazon.com, and tonight I bought a new webcam for my desktop.

The webcam that I have on my desktop is a Flexic@m which at one time was acceptable, but it’s such a horrible webcam that I no longer want to use it.  I would much rather have this Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 because it is HD 16:9 and it has a mic.  I would like to be able to call my aunts and friends with Skype, but I can’t because I don’t have a mic.  I can use the built-in webcam on my Chromebook, but it doesn’t do Skype.

I would also like to be able to do time-lapse videos to put on YouTube.  I have a time-lapse video of my Scooby Doo Chia Pet, which is not that great because of the horrible webcam.  Tonight I tried making a time-lapse video of my lava lamp, but the webcam is so horrible that you can’t see the beautiful colors of the lava. That was my motivation for choosing to buy a new webcam.

This webcam was only $24 and it was available for free shipping if I paid $25.  In order for me to get the free shipping, I had to buy something else, so I chose to buy a $5 4GB USB memory stick.  I needed a new memory stick anyway so this is perfect.  The USB memory stick I have now is only 1GB and it’s almost full, so I had planned on upgrading anyway. What I’d like to do is take all of my photos off of the 1GB stick, and put them on the 4GB stick.  I can use the 1GB stick for my book as a backup.

I wasn’t expecting to win the iPad2, and frankly I didn’t think my holiday browser theme was as good as the other ones, so I’m happy for the person who did win because they certainly deserved it.  Even though an iPad2 would have been cool, I’m happy to have a new webcam and USB memory stick.  So thank you Brand Thunder for the Amazon $25 gift card, I really do appreciate it.

*This post is not a paid advertisement for Izea‘s Social Spark or Brand Thunder.

Christmas Pictures

On By Michel McDonaldIn Holidays, PicturesLeave a comment

I am very happy today because a few days ago I found out that the person who had taken photos of Christmas lost his fanny pack which had his camera, wallet and 2 cell phones in it but someone else took pictures too.  She took them on a disposable camera so the quality of the photos isn’t as good as a digital camera but who really cares?  I got photos of me with the kids FINALLY!

On the left is baby Noah, in the middle is Andrew and on the right is Jordan then in the back is well, me…

I was really happy with the look on these kids faces when they found their stockings because even though they were empty, they didn’t care because they have a stocking with their names on them to use every year with a cool picture on them.  That was all that mattered to them.

Andrew was the first to find it.  I was watching him and he was ear-to-ear smiles and he was really excited about it.  Then he was yelling for Jordan to come see his and he was really excited too.

That’s what made it all worth it to me.  The months that I spent making them all boiled down to one thing, how the kids liked them.  It was worth all the numbness and pinching in my hands to see the looks on their faces when they saw them.

I hope they enjoy the stockings for many decades.  Except for Noah because his stocking is a baby stocking hehe.  I’m obviously going to have to find another stocking to make for him.

Additional pictures:

Windows Live

On By Michel McDonaldIn Products I LikeLeave a comment

A couple of years ago I got sick of using Outlook Express as my email client because it didn’t have a junk filter. I started searching for a new email program and after a few failed ones that added banner ads at the bottom of every email I found Windows Live Mail and I’ve been using it ever since.

Today I kept getting these messages saying something about my server not responding and I got sick of it so I thought, I wonder if there is a newer version of Windows Live Mail so I went to Google and found it. I was using the 2008 version and found that there is a 2011 version. Unfortunately for me, that is for Windows Vista and 7 only. They did have a version for XP users which is the 2009 version. Yes, I get to use last years model. But it’s still an upgrade for me considering I’ve been using the 2008 model anyway. I’m still having that issue with the server but it has nothing to do with my email client but more to do with my ISP.

It gets better though because I got a few new programs along with it. Not only did I get Windows Live Messenger — which is basically MSN Messenger which I got with the 2008 version — but I also got Windows Live Call, Family Safety, Photo Gallery and Writer.

Windows Live Call opens Windows Live Messenger so I can only assume you can make Skype like calls. Not video calls, well you can do that too but I mean calls to a persons actual telephone.

Windows Live Family Safety is great for families with children especially if you don’t want your children being exposed to the dangerous world of the internet. It allows you to prevent certain websites from being viewed by anyone on the computer. I haven’t tried it because I’m not a child lol. Well, it’s debatable.

Windows Live Photo Gallery is not unique but it is a useful tool for photographers and anyone who wants to organize their photos, or just look at them. I don’t know. I don’t really have a need for that program.

Windows Live Writer. Now that’s something that I can use because it’s a bloggers tool. It doesn’t have certain things that I would like for it to have like oh I don’t know, a grammar check for example. It has a spell check where it gives you that wavy red underline but nothing for my bad grammar and punctuation. It also has something like 158 plug-ins available that are useful. Some that I already use in my Word Press blog. There are some other plug-ins that I wish were available for it but I’m sure they will become available in the future.

I am using the Windows Live Writer to write this post and if it looks good in my blog then I may consider switching. It works with many websites like WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, Community Server and many more. I have a Blogger account but I never use it because I hate having to copy/paste posts.

I know I’m late on all of this info but it’s new to me.

Hacked Yahoo Emails

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog, Friends and FamilyLeave a comment

I got a strange email from my sister the other day with a link in it (which I won’t add here for your safety) and stupidly I clicked it but I closed the browser before anything could happen. I have wonderful anti-virus program that would’ve caught anything if I were infected.

I know that my sister did not send me that email because number 1 she’s in a bad place right now, her computer was stolen so she doesn’t have the means to send me that email and even if she had a way of sending me an email she would not send me a link with no text explaining what the link was or shy she sent it to me. Also, she wouldn’t email me, she would use to contact me.

Then this morning a friend sent me this email:

“I have a Japanese friend told me that he worked in a Japanese company. I visited the company he worked for and found the products very favorable. And there are many product versions, such as the European version, American version, and the Asian version and so on. All company’s products take photos for the true products. I suggest you should have a look in this website. There is the company website: (link omitted) , You can enjoy a lot of benefits in the second shopping time. Thank you ! k”

I know this isn’t from him because he signed it “K” and he wouldn’t have signed it with a letter, he would’ve signed it with his real name. And second, he never emails me. He doesn’t send me funny jokes or pictures of kittens or puppies or chain emails. He just doesn’t send anything. Not even an email saying hi. If he sees me online on MSN Messenger, well even then he doesn’t IM me. I usually have to IM him because he’s usually too busy to IM people.

So, my guess is that some how Matt and my sister have either clicked a link (when my sister still had access to a computer) and it gave them a virus which allows people to get your passwords or someone has hacked into the Yahoo mainframe. I don’t know which answer it is.

I am blogging about this so that if you have a @yahoo.com email address, back up your address book because what I know of hackers who do this kind of thing is that when they send these emails out to your friends they usually delete your address book / contact list. The only way to get that all back is by going through your sent folder and gathering all the addresses from the emails that were sent to your friends.

What should I do about hacked yahoo email? – Yahoo Answers

Good luck.

Safe Holidays

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, Holidays, PSPLeave a comment

I just wanted to wish everyone very safe holidays. There isn’t really much going on here. I’m knitting stockings for Christmas and I want to make some ornaments for the tree which by the way we haven’t decorated yet hehe. I put it up but it hasn’t been decorated.

I want to buy a PSP for myself because I deserve a treat, however, I can’t find one anywhere, not even on the internet. I don’t want a used one because my neighbor told me his has a virus, yes a virus. They can go to websites and you can catch a virus from a website so if you go to a website with a PSP you can get a virus and I’m sure used ones are at risk. I have a 50/50 chance of buying an infected PSP so I just feel I might as well buy a new one.

The Core ones which are $165 or something. The ones that come with a game are $199. I could buy a Nintendo DS but those don’t go to websites nor do they play movies or let you view your photos or work as a mp3 player. I also saw a PSP with GPS capabilities, I assume you can buy the GPS for any PSP. I will have to wait until after the holidays to try to buy one. I’m sure they will be on sale after Christmas and/or New Years Day.