Let me know your outcome.  Very interesting.  http://www.bingiton.com/

I’m not a doctor, but I play one on the Internet.  I think we all do these days though don’t we?  We Google our symptoms and we find out we either have cancer and need to get to a doctor right away because we have a year to live, or we just need a Tylenol.  Someone will tell me their symptoms and I will come back after 2 minutes and tell them what my diagnosis is for them.  I went to a doctor here in the Bay Area a few years ago at a local clinic, but before I did I made sure to Google and Yelp for reviews.  I ended up picking a doctor that has been practicing for over 30 years who received insanely good reviews.  He only practiced medicine when I last saw him two days a week.  When he came into the examination room the first thing he said to me is “OK so what in the world are you doing here?”  “You are too young to be in here.”  I told him my ailments and then proceeded to tell him my diagnosis.  He laughed a bit at me and said something like “well now, you’re quite the scientist type aren’t you?”  He then said “without even looking at you, I think you’re right”.  I then told him about all the reviews I read online and he said “you really do your homework don’t you?  Did the reviews tell you I used to be the personal doctor for The Who?”  I said “no” and I’m sure he could tell I was thinking he was a rockstar at this point.  He then sat down and asked if he minded if he drink a 5 Hour Energy and then pounded it right in front of me.  I asked “aren’t those bad for you?”  He then said “what, caffeine?”  “Eh, all in moderation and look at me, I’ve made it this long.”  He then subscribed me an insanely strong dose of antibiotics and said “this will get you all better and we won’t be seeing each other after this”.  He was right.

That experience is one of the few positive experiences I’ve had in my life with a doctor.  With all of the theories of what is good and bad for us, I have learned to take it all in stride and try to use some common sense.  I know Doctor Oz has been recently getting some controversy for doing more harm than good in trying to dramatize health to the public, but in most episodes I like what he has to say.  He also puts it in terms the public can understand.  True intelligence is explaining complicated topics in simplistic ways that anyone can understand.  At least in my opinion.  About a month ago I was watching the episode below where he featured Dr. Soram Khalsa.  I think Doctor Oz even had “controversial” in the title of the episode which sparked my interest.  Dr. Khalsa is a big advocate of vitamin D and after watching the segment I have been taking his recommended levels of supplements.  Not only have I not gotten sick when everyone around me is getting the flu, colds, and feeling run down but I am feeling especially great.  I have been running and eating better as well, so that can’t and doesn’t hurt either.  I’ve been drinking detox tea every night as well.  I am the only one in the office who hasn’t been sick with everything going around, my son and wife are sick as we speak, and I’m doing great (knocking on wood).  A mixture of western and alternative medicine seems to make a lot of sense to me.  At the end of the day, do what your body tells you to do.  If you click the images below it will take you to each episode from the Dr. Oz site (the third is the best).

In this episode of Subculture Club, Thrash Lab gives you an inside look at three of our favorite specialty coffee companies. We start off at the roasting plant for LAMILL Coffee, then visit the Oakland headquarters and cupping room for Blue Bottle Coffee Co. and then take you to the roasting works at Handsome Coffee in downtown Los Angeles. The things that happen in a coffee house are really magical! Watch and see how the taste, the look, the smell, the pour, the perfect cup and the traditional drinking experience of coffee is created by some of the experts in the business.

Last week I was talking with some coworkers about a 2013 initiative we are taking on.  I forget how I got on the subject but it was something to the effect of me being tired of doing things the way they have always been done which made me think of a recent Mini Cooper YouTube video I had seen.  I showed it to the group who seemed to like it and I’ve since used it in other meetings before brainstorming new ideas or initiatives.  For a while it sort of spawned a new catch phrase where we say things around the office like “eh…that is so normal.”

My favorite part of the video is when it says “normal can never be amazing” and “who would ever want to be normal?”  As you go about your work, if you feel passionate about what you are working on, chances are that work won’t be normal, it will be amazing.  Every time I see a Mini I now think of the video (so probably great marketing to BMW’s credit).  If you walk down the hall people will see you and likely think about what you have done for them.  Will those people think your work is amazing?

Here’s to you doing amazing work in 2013…

I finally decided to throw out all my old floppy disks after cleaning out a closet last weekend.  Before I threw them out I had to go through them all to see if there were still any files left on the disks.  To my surprise there were still a few files I found which was like going back in time.  When I lived in Maryland I had Erol’s for a while instead of AOL like everyone else.  One of the files was a page I saved because I was researching web hosts back in 1997 for hosting my own website.  I was going to start my own online grocery delivery business.  I like how you can still see the placeholders for the IE4 and Netscape logos.